Chapter 36
Blake
I fly through the caves of Skyborne like a rocket. My lungs heave to force air in and out of my body. My wounds sting from movement, but I won't stop. I know what I heard and Dawn and April need to know as soon as possible. Our quarters come up fast and I bank sharply right into the empty arch without its closing curtain. I screech to a halt in the center of the room and land on my talons to catch my breath. Dawn stares at me as she lights the torch with her blue dragon fire. April is in her straw bed holding the red cloth once again. I look up from the floor to face the two.
"Blake? What happened?" Dawn nonchalantly asks.
"Grayos is gone!" I blurt out in response.
"What!?"
"I've heard around from pokemon. Grayos is nowhere to be found in Skyborne! He's not here!"
"Why would he leave?" April jumps in.
"I don't know!" April studies the ground for a moment and shoots back up.
"You don't think he went off to face the Wings of Legend by himself, do you?" April blurts with a worried expression. Dawn floats forward to face April.
"He's a very wise pokemon. He wouldn't just throw his life away like that!" Dawn retorts a bit too angrily. Then, she relaxes a bit. "But, this doesn't make sense! The Wings of Legend are coming soon and he has to be here to help!" She exclaims. No one can explain it, so no one says anything. I hear the flapping of wings from outside. But, I don't check who it is. I look from Dawn to April and back to Dawn. What are we gonna do without Grayos?
"SKYBORNE MEETING! NOW!" All of us jump halfway out of our skin at the sudden announcement. " EVERYONE MUST GO TO THE FINAL EVOLUTION TRAINING GROUNDS FOR FURTHER ANNOUNCEMENT FROM THE LEADERS!" The pokemon's voice dies off as he flies further down the caverns, spreading the word. The three of us look to each other.
"Do you think this is about Grayos?" April asks.
"There's only one way to find out." I reply, staring straight ahead. The three of us are out in the cave passage and we let ourselves get carried along by the river of pokemon trodding to the final evolution training grounds. They stampede through the cave networks until it comes to a drop-off. Pokemon at the edge take off flying to perch onto something in the cavernous room. When the crowd pushes us to the front, we take off towards a platform that can hold all three of our company.
I cling to the edge with my talons curling to get a strong grip. Dawn wraps her body in a circle around the post. April sits down with her legs hanging off the edge. She starts swinging them, waiting for something to happen. Only a few are in a chatter. The enormous cavern is mostly silent.
"AttenTION!" Every pair of eyes turn to a cliff-like ledge that is the entrance to a cave. On that ledge, Kitiro and Leyorra stand side by side. It seems a bit awkward to see the leaders like this without Grayos, but Skyborne stands at attention. Leyorra steps forward to speak.
"We have called this meeting to settle a few matters within Skyborne. First of all, it has come to our attention that there are rumors going around of Grayos's absence. These rumors are true. Grayos is gone. He has kept important information from Skyborne and, unfortunately, had to be banished." My lower beak drops. There are gasps around the room. My chest tightens. Grayos isn't a Skyborne leader anymore? The pokemon that saved mine, Dawn's, and April's lives is banished. I probably will never see him again. And he was banished all because he protected us. Leyorra takes a deep breath, clearly hating every moment of this announcement. "The information he held was the motive behind the Wings of Legend, the real leader of the group, and the exact location of their main base. The leader of the Wings of Legend is the exiled brother and creation of Arceus, Giratina. Giratina wishes to escape his world, the distortion world by offering up three specific sacrifices. These sacrifices have lived in Skyborne for ten years and are currently in our army. However, the identity of these three will remain confidential." I take a breath and my chest starts to loosen a bit. If Skyborne knew, there would be an uproar. But, why? I thought that, if they knew, they'd execute us. Kitiro steps forward next to Leyorra.
"The main idea is that they are coming in a few days. Rayquaza and the others have been under mind control of Giratina. And, he's sending his puppets to Skyborne. They will strike in a matter of days. However, now that we know who's pulling the strings" I start to grin, anticipating his words. "We'll strike the puppetmaster in the heart!" There are a few battle cries around us for those pokemon itching for a fight, including myself. April giggles at my outburst. Dawn rolls her eyes. Kitiro continues. "Since we're short of leaders, we'll try something different. We are going to be up against six different pokemon total. That means six different teams. Leyorra and I have decided to use types to our advantage this time instead of a huge mixed army. Group one will be composed of pokemon that can learn rock-type moves to take down Zapdos. Group two will contain those with fire and steel type moves for Articuno. Group three will target Lugia and have dark and electric type moves. Group four will beat Ho-Oh with water-types. Group five will need strong ice type moves in hopes of beating Rayquaza. If you currently don't have a move that matches one of the five groups, then you will be matched in a group where you can acquire such a move. As for group six, you must already know either a ghost, dark, or dragon type move and be agile enough to fly to Spear Pillar without detection to defeat Giratina. The Wings of Legend are going to leave their base to attack Skyborne. Groups one through five will have to hold them off or defeat them while group six will leave Skyborne tomorrow to attack the unguarded Giratina as soon as possible. Once Giratina is down, mind connection with the Wings of Legend should break and this war will be over. Tonight's agenda is to set the groups for the battle plan." I'm grinning the entire briefing. This is gonna be fun.