Chapter Three: The Past, the Present and a Mystery
It was taking Kyosan a long time to drift off. The night air was still warm and it sunk through his fur infuriatingly, making him uncomfortable and hot. He lay sulkily on his stomach, waiting for his eyelids to droop. His efforts were not aided by the fact that the voices of Elana, Dusk and the traitorous Corphish floated in fragments through the rushing wall of water that separated him from them. They were discussing him, he knew it. Scowling, he rolled over onto his back and stared up at the stars.
When he was a young Eevee, naive, curious and unintelligent, he had listened with rapt attention to the old stories told to him by his grandfather, an ancient old Vaporeon with no teeth but many tales. The little Kyosan fawned over myths about heroes who died in some sort of valiant way and had their very soul imprinted in the stars. He sat, starry-eyed, as his grandfather told him about legendary battles fought in their forests: about the evil humans who stole their prey and the mystical warriors who drove them away; about the clash between the giants of the night and the sun. All of those stories are up there now, Kyosan thought silently, his scarlet eyes following the brilliant path of a shooting star as it blazed across the dark sky. He could feel his eyes sting slightly and he shook his head, rolling back onto his front with a grim, annoyed expression on his face, furious at himself for becoming sentimental.
Stupid.
He yawned widely, and his fangs glinted. The lack of sleep was irritating beyond belief and he stretched out his front legs with a grunt, pricking his ears as he heard raised voices from inside the cave.
"Whatever you may say, I don't trust him."
"That's typical of you, Grey," came Dusk's angry retort. "You don't trust anybody if they're an outsider!"
"Exactly," the Luxio replied calmly. "He's an outsider, thus giving me reason not to trust him."
"You only don't like him because Roze doesn't like him," Dusk scoffed haughtily, and Kyosan could picture her raised nose, the flick of her tail, the flounce in her step. He raised his eyebrows sceptically, a small smile twitching his mouth.
She's pushing her luck, he thought lazily as he heard Grey's low growls.
"Roze doesn't want you to fight." The frightened voice of the small Vulpix punctuated the threatening sounds from the Luxio's throat. "Roze doesn't like fighting."
Kyosan looked over towards the waterfall. Grey's growls had stopped and everybody was silent. Rolling onto his side with 'huff', Kyosan waited blankly for sleep to overcome him, his head buzzing with thoughts.
*
"!"
Kyosan was awoken by a shrill scream of fear the next morning. He had leapt to his paws before even realising he was awake; his heart was pounding harshly against his ribs, and his ruffled fur coursed with electric. Without wasting a second, he leapt through the splashing, sparkling waterfall into the cave and skidded to a halt, panting.
"What-?"
Elana stood there in the centre of the cavern, her eyes wide in terror and one tapered hand on her heart.
"Something pushed me!" she whispered, shaking, her usually-gentle eyes on Kyosan. Roze whimpered quietly and buried herself in Grey's paws.
"What do you mean?" Kyosan demanded immediately. He was relieved to know that nobody was hurt, but at the same time he felt irritated. He had half-expected the cause of the scream to be an ambush, or an attack by the Corphish. No such luck, apparently.
"Something pushed me!" Elana repeated, before suddenly shrieking again. She jumped violently and almost crashed into Niall, her eyes shining with tears of fear. "It happened again! Something's here, something pushed me I can't see anything, I don't know what it is!"
Kyosan cast a weary glare around the cavern, careful to linger his cold gaze on Sol a little longer than everyone else.
"Nobody's here, Elan-"
Then he felt it. Something brushed the fur against his ribs and he jolted violently, his crimson eyes large in disbelief.
"What the-"
His exclamation was cut off by a loud, unfamiliar giggle. Niall, who had been watching the antics with a bemused expression with Elana in his arms, suddenly felt a sharp tug on his long, shaggy white hair.
"Ow!"
"What?" Grey asked harshly, casting his yellow gaze around to look at him, his paws wrapped around the tiny form of Roze.
"Something pulled my hair!" the Shiftry yelled furiously. "When I find out wh-"
Another giggle. Dusk, her ears flat in apprehension, backed slowly into Grey's chest. Niall gritted his square teeth, his eyes blazing in anger. Sol, who had hidden behind the Shiftry as soon as Kyosan had entered, peered around with large, confused eyes. Completely thrown, Kyosan took an uncertain pawstep backwards.
"Who's there?" he asked, masking the nervousness he felt, but suddenly he felt his legs knocked out from under him. He hit the ground with a thud, all the air knocked out of him, his fear and confusion replaced by total bewilderment.
"What the-" he began again. A sudden loud shriek beside him told him that the same thing had happened to Elana, and she fell to the ground next to him with an uncomfortable 'huhhffph'. Snarling, Grey leapt to his paws.
"Show yourself!" he yowled as Roze cowered between his legs. There was a moment of silence. Kyosan got to his feet, swinging his head in all directions as Elana trembled beside him.
"WHO ARE YOU?"
Another giggle.
A small, dark purple Pokémon slowly flickered into view. It wore a necklace of dark beads around its neck, and its yellow-and-white eyes twinkled mischievously. It had appeared right in front of Roze, and it opened its small oval mouth to say one word:
"Boo."
It was pandemonium. Roze yelped in terror and jumped upwards, smacking Grey in the stomach and winding him. The Luxio staggered sideways with an 'oof' sound and then lunged forward for the Misdreavus without even pausing for breath. The ghost Pokémon span upwards towards the ceiling with a giggle; Roze took off for the entrance of the cavern: Dusk attempted to waylay her but missed; paws scrambling, the Vulpix fled through the waterfall at top speed out of sight, and with a roar of rage and fear, Grey pounded after her.
The ghost Pokémon was still chuckling. Kyosan's eyes, which were so large beforehand, had now narrowed into dangerous slits. Elana moved further behind him as a look of indignation came over Dusk's face.
"Who are you and what gives you the right to scare us like that?" she asked haughtily, her tail sticking straight up in the air. The Misdreavus gave her a cute smile and span around once in midair, showing off for the pretty Espeon.
"My name is Enar," he said sweetly, blinking his large, innocent eyes at her. "And I was only having a joke."
"Well don't!" Kyosan snarled, his claws unsheathing and scratching the stone beneath his paws. "Why are you here?"
Enar looked surprised as his harsh tones. Quickly rearranging his face into a saddened expression, he spoke in a quiet, upset voice: "I wanted to join you and help you in the fight."
"The fight is over," Niall said briskly, stepping closer to the group gathered in the centre. He stared around at them all impressively, his eyes glaring either side of his long nose from under the mane of white hair. "Memphis is dead."
"But," the Misdreavus interrupted stubbornly, "they have a new leader!"
Sol made a sudden anxious movement. Dusk looked at him questioningly, but Kyosan didn't notice. He was once again trembling with anger.
"And you've come to spy on us for this new leader, have you?" he yowled accusingly, baring his fangs. Elana gave the Misdreavus an apologetic look. She had a feeling she hadn't meant his joke in a nasty way and there was something about the ghost Pokémon's youthful aura that gave her a sense of peace. Enar, however, looked naively surprised at the Umbreon's hostility.
"Of course not!" he exclaimed in a you're-being-very-stupid voice. "My trainer released me into the forest and I wanted to get awa-"
But what he wanted to get away from they didn't hear, because there was a sudden uproar at his words. Dusk and Elana had to fling themselves on top of Kyosan to stop him from ripping off the Misdreavus' head. Niall took an intimidating step forward, all cool-headedness gone. His yellow eyes were huge and bloodthirsty.
"You come from humans?" he asked harshly, his large teeth gritted. The Misdreavus gave a nod, his face stricken. For the first time, he felt nervous. The atmosphere had changed completely. Was it something he said?
"Traitor!" Kyosan howled, paws scrabbling in the dirt in his vain attempts to get out from under the combined weight of Elana and Dusk. "Spy! Freak!"
Niall gave a grave nod of approval at Kyosan's words. He was staring at the small ghost Pokémon with an incredibly cruel expression on his face. "You don't belong here."
"Don't say that!" Dusk yelped as she was tossed aside. Kyosan powered his way out from under Elana, who squealed in fright, and stood with his face twisted in an ugly expression of fury. He was breathing heavily.
"Get out of here!" he hissed, before swinging his head round to glare at Sol. "And you, too! You're both traitors!"
"I'm not-" Enar began loudly, but Sol cut him short with a 'hush'. He scuttled forwards, his claws clicking anxiously.
"Kyosan," he said clearly and calmly, although he blinked rapidly as he spoke. "I am not a traitor, nor do I intend to be. I..." he swallowed. "I only wish to be of assistance to you."
"Cut the fancy words," Kyosan snapped, "and get the hell out of my sight!"
"Kyosan-"
"And you!" Kyosan wheeled around to face Dusk. "You can leave, too! It's your fault Boreil isn't here!" He looked quite mad. "Get out of here and never come back!"
"Kyosan," Elana said softly, her large eyes brimming with tears. "Kyosan, don't..."
"If you side with them, you're against me!" Kyosan yowled in reply. "You're all traitors! All of you!"
Niall stared at him blankly. There was complete silence in the cave apart from Kyosan's continued harsh breathing. Elana was crying silently, ashamed at her feelings of fear for her friend and leader. Dusk had turned her back on him, her head down, her tail still. Enar was the only creature moving. He was scanning the cave floor with interest, bobbing up and down.
"Whoa, that's one weird rock."
"GET OUT OF HERE!" Kyosan near screamed, and then, as totally accidental contradiction to his words, copied his actions of the night before and stalked right of the cavern.
*
It was a subdued group that gathered together that evening. Niall had gathered twigs and dried, dead leaves from the forest below and started a fire in the centre of the cave. Grey and Roze hadn't yet returned.
"So," Enar said impatiently into the silence. "Can somebody explain to me what's going on here?"
Dusk was resting her head on her slender paws, staring into the fire. The dancing flames reflected golden in her sorrowful eyes.
"Anybody?"
Elana didn't answer either. She was delicately sewing leaves together in the light of the fire using split grass and a pine needle. Her mind wandered elsewhere. Niall was sitting beside her, absently fanning the fire with his leafy hand, listening to the crackling and spitting of the flames. His thoughts lingered on Kyosan with anger, pity and sadness. Sol sat dejectedly, his claws limp and eyes miserable. He had barely spoken since his arrival. It hadn't been what he imagined at all. When he thought it out, the Sol inside his head had burst in, wowed them all and instantly been appointed top-informant. Yet, he'd barely made any impression, and the Umbreon already hated his guts.
"Hey!" Enar span around a few times. "Is anybody gonna tell me what the heck's happening to this forest or not?"
Niall spat the twig he had been chewing on out of his mouth and let out a long sigh.
"It's a long story," he began, only to be interrupted by Enar.
"How long?"
"Long."
"Very long?"
"Long enough."
"I have time," the Misdreavus told him fervently.
"I know."
"Will you tell all of it?"
"Enar," the Shiftry sighed, scratching his head. "I let you stay purely out of the goodness of my heart. Now shut up."
"Okay."
"It's a long story," Niall said again, and hurried along in fear of being interrupted once more. "And it begins a long, long time ago. Several humans invaded the forests around these parts: trainers, breeders, hunters and poachers. They all took, injured or stole the Pokémon in some way, and soon a rebellion rose.
"A large number of Pokémon wanted to kill the humans and take back what they stole. An equally large amount of Pokémon wanted not to kill, but to drive them away. The ones who wanted to defeat the humans in a bloodthirsty way decided that if the other Pokémon didn't work in the same way, they were also their enemies.
"There were many battles, and a lot of humans and Pokémon were killed." The Shiftry spat into the fire, before continuing. "The Pokémon that wanted to work peacefully were captured, tortured and slaughtered by the opposing side. What remained of the humans left the forests, and the rebels that had killed them and driven them out reigned over us."
Enar floated above the fire silently, his eyes large with confusion.
"But why is everyone still fighting?" he asked curiously, his head tilted to one side. For the first time, he was showing signs of actually listening. Niall observed this, before he suddenly sighed and leaned back against a stalagmite.
"Not too long ago, more humans entered the forest. They did the same as the others; captured, injured, stole, killed. One of the descendants of the founder of the original rebellion decided to fight back in the same way as his 'noble' ancestors." The Shifty scowled darkly. "Memphis went on a murderous rampage. He had a lot of followers too, until Kyosan came along.
"Nobody knows where he came from. He just appeared one day, at the edge of the forest. One of Memphis' patrols saw him there, and decided to attack. They probably thought he was a spy, or maybe they just wanted some fun. Whatever. Anyway, Kyosan killed nearly every single one of them. The ones that escaped went to find Mr. Crawdaunt and of course, he came to see Kyosan for himself.
"He asked Kyosan to join him. Kyosan said no. Despite his hatred for humans, he wouldn't join Memphis and kill in cold blood. Memphis didn't like that at all."
Dusk raised her eyes to rest on the Shiftry, her ears pricked. Elana continued to sew quietly, but she was listening.
"Kyosan's exploits were hot news in the forest. People that were against Memphis but too scared to speak up came forward. I think Kyosan wanted revenge on the creatures that tried to kill him, so he started to rebel. Others followed him. Not just from around here, from everywhere. They flooded in flocks to help him defeat Memphis, and finally... with help... he did."
Enar remained silently. Pleased with the effect he'd made, Niall stretched and yawned.
"So there you have it. The humans may have left but everybody who followed Memphis are out to get us, mainly Kyosan. Memphis was a popular leader, and, even though I hate to say it, he was pretty good, too. Made everything he did sound for the best, though of course there were those who saw right through him."
"Like me!" Enar declared seriously, his expression haughty. "I always knew he was mean!"
"You never knew him," Elana said in surprise, looking up from the blanket of leaves she had created.
"I know," Enar replied sweetly. "But I would've known he was mean."
Niall cast his gaze over to Sol. The Corphish was still staring into the fire, his expression hard to read. Dusk, however, was gazing out through the waterfall. Her stomach jolted when, through the water, she saw a lithe dark shape adorned with angry yellow rings.
