Silence and darkness surrounding the air. The fire dancing off the walls surrounding the cave-area, shadows casually hugging the walls. Peacefulness other than the sound of crackles from the fire and the slight sound of a running river deep into the cave. I was unable to sleep well, my body still ached from the past few days. It hurt, but I was grateful to be alive. Koyuki's words just kept echoing in me regarding Articuno. What was it that she possibly meant? Why would Articuno be watching over me? Ears folding against my head, a soft sigh escaped from me. So many unanswered questions, but I needed to push them to the back of my head. One day at a time, I had to keep telling myself that.
Glancing around the room, I noticed that Takao wasn't there. Where did he disappear off to? I pushed myself up to my paws and stretched, a huge yawn gapping. Looking around the flame-lit cave, I frowned. There was nothing here nor any sign of Takao. Perhaps he went further into the cave or maybe he left? Heading towards the cave entrance, I began to hear a soft musical note. It was a very light and airy tone, almost wind-like as well. I listened to the music for a moment that was being created and followed the noise to the entrance of the cave. I poked my head around the corner and noticed that the blizzard had subsided, but it was still dark outside. In fact, it had actually cleared up relatively fast. The winds had calmed down, and the clouds were beginning to clear from the night air. I still haven't seen Takao, and was curious as to where this music was coming from. I made my way outside the mouth of the cave and scanned the area outside.
A lot of snow had fallen with the blizzard, at least a few more inches of snow had been produced. It was up past my knee-caps though, so it was going to be a struggle trying to hop through this snow to get home when the night was over. I listened to the graceful music and felt like I've heard the tone before. Perhaps a pokémon in the guild was humming the tune one day, but it drew my attention even closer. I gazed over my shoulders up the snow-covered mountain. Near the top, I noticed a very diligent sitting Gallade. His smooth skin glistened slightly under the moonlight. His eyes were closed and he was playing with his mouth. It was in the shape of a thin cylinder with holes atop of it and Gallade was playing this instrument. I felt at complete ease listening to the song he was creating with his flute. The music was so flowing, and just a perfected song. The song came to an end with a long drawn-out note at the end. As soon as his song ended, the pokémon's gaze lifted to the sky and stared at the bright moon hovering above the area, lighting everything up.
"That was a beautiful melody," I remarked.
Takao didn't even jump, or disconnect with the moon. The corner of his lip twisted upwards and his red eyes closed. "A really close friend taught me how to play," He replied softly.
"What a very kind-hearted friend," I crooned up to him. I looked at the few small rocks that lay in front of me and began to steady myself. I balanced my weight on my hind legs, and leapt upwards onto the rocks, inviting myself to where the pokémon was. I guess if he were going to be stuck at Snowberry for a while, I oughta get used to his arrogance. I stopped on the rock below him, not wanting to get in his personal bubble. I steadied myself on the rock and sat down onto the snowy surface. It seems that this cave was sitting at the end of the beach area, as you could overlook several feet and hear the ocean crashing off the rocks, and see the ocean as well. It seems as though Winterry's region was almost a big crescent. The mountain range was huge, and started at one end of the region and ended at the other. But grew to a huge mountain top in the middle and pushed towards the back. This proved to me that this region was not that big, but maybe up the mountain area Winterry claims a lot of those landmarks.
"She was an incredible friend," Takao commented. "My best friend, and my best partner," He chimed quietly.
"What happened to her?" I asked him, still staring out into the black vastness of the ocean.
A sigh escaped the pokémon and he shrugged, replying, "She's somewhere out there."
I acknowledged his comment with a quick tip of my head, and silence surrounded us again. "Can I hear it from the beginning?"
The green and white pokémon dipped his head very slowly but surely, and asked, "Are you sure? You should probably be resting."
I rolled my shoulders and shook my head, I wasn't tired anymore. I was fully awake with this tune he was singing with this instrument. It was a very soothing and relaxing tune.
A small smile appeared as he brought the instrument to his mouth once more and began to play. The song he was playing was extremely soft and relaxing, but had a wonderful melody to it. It was a simple tune, but it had some power behind it. This music rang in my ears, interrupting the silence of the night. It sounded perfect with the waves below crashing at the rocks off to the side some. I couldn't help but feel completely relaxed as I sat there and swayed back and forth with every note he made.
The beautiful melody continued for at least five minutes, finally coming to a stop at the end. I hadn't even noticed I was humming along with it, ever so slightly – as if I've heard it before. I guess I'm just a fast learner.
"A beautiful melody!" I cheered softly. "You'll have to show me how to play one day!"
Takao nodded in agreement, replying "One day." His voice was soft, but it sounded as if there was some pain behind it. His gaze had lowered to the instrument he was holding in his hands and he just clenched it tightly, as if he were holding on to a precious memory. This friend must have been very important to Takao. It made me curious about what actually happened to his friend, and why he wasn't looking for her. Perhaps she got sick and was unable to recover from it? I've no idea.
"This song is known as The Last Snow," Takao shared with me, looking out into the ocean now. His posture had changed from relaxed to tense. He was clenching the flute right up against his body, and staring out into the ocean. Something was bothering him. He had secrets, anyone could see that. However, it was not my place to intrude on these secrets. I was a curious one, but I also knew how to respect someone's wish as well.
I tried to change the mood by smiling up at him from my own rock, and putting a paw out to offer. "Well, the Last Snow is a great song," I complimented. "You should definitely play more often! I'm not sure what happened with your friend, but she's very lucky to have you!" My grin got a bit wider and I meant it. I didn't know Takao very well, but listening to how much he cared about his friend and this song, it seems like she really did have a great friend. I still didn't like his arrogance, but at this moment he was exposed. He was open and willing. I forced myself up on all four of my paws and climbed down from the rocks. "I am going to go back now, sleep tight," I called to him.
He nodded and said, "Goodnight Aria."
I disappeared back into the cave into the little moss bed that I had created earlier, and plopped right into it. I was exhausted, but that music did help me have a more calming area. When I was settled into the moss bed again, I could hear him playing again. The melody had me quickly drift off into a deep, calming sleep.
The next day, Takao had woken me up early in the morning to help me get back to the guild. The path to the guild wasn't so far away, a good couple hours of a walk but that's about it. This was a very tiny area, but perhaps there was more territory hidden in the mountains. I was only on the beachside and the beach was a long walk. The forest was extremely peaceful, and he pointed out a few of the markings that anyone could see in case I ever got lost again. Of course, we didn't do a full tour because we just didn't have time for that. I had to get back to the guild to check in with Zorro and Vex and assure them that I was ok. I was still embarrassed that my atlas had broken, so hopefully I won't need it as long as I'm with the two of them.
By the time we reached back to the guild, it was probably around sunhigh (noon.) Or a bit past. The town was as steady as ever, business was doing business, and pokémon were roaming the town. I was excited to be back to Snowberry. I'm hoping now things could start to fan out in front of me. This past week sure has been a shock of events happening one after another, and I still wasn't anywhere closer to when I woke up on Shattered Shrine.
In town, I heard a loud voice booming which startled me to the point where my fur was standing up, and my eyes grew wide, claws digging into the ground.
"ARIAAAAAA!"
I turned so fast in the direction of the voice, my face red with embarrassment as I got called out in the literal middle of town by the fountain.
"Heh, heh, heh," Takao chuckled, crossing his arms. "Great friends you have."
I felt a bit more at ease when I noticed Vex running over to me, arms stretched out and his eyes a bit watery. His arms locked around my neck so fast and so tight, I even coughed a bit.
"Too-Tight," I muttered through the strong hug.
"I was so worried about you, Zorro and I have been looking all over for you! Where were you? Are you ok? Are you hurt?" Vex gasped, pulling back from the hug and lifting my front paws up and checking my legs for any sign of injury.
I couldn't help but let out a soft laughter as he was checking me for injuries, "Vex, I'm fine," I told him with a smile.
Zorro came up behind him quickly and offered me a warm, friendly grin. "Glad to see you're okay, little snow," Zorro teased me.
"Little Snow? I'm a bit bigger than you, you know!" I teased Zorro.
"Come on, let's go eat! I'm starving and you can tell us all about what happened!" Vex invited.
Takao cut into the conversation, "I'm going to head back to the guild, see ya later Team Aster," The pokémon made a remark towards us, turning and leaving.
My gaze went from the panicking riolu up to the green and white pokémon. The small painful smile reappeared on his face that I noticed earlier when we were speaking of the song he was playing. He was saddened, but he must also be extremely tired as he did not sleep last night at all, even after I went back to sleep. Watching him walk away, while also saying hi to some of the townies, made me unsettled.
"Aria! Are you coming along?" Vex's voice brought me back to them.
I turned quickly and smiled, trotting after the two of them, walking into the café.
After we received our food and ate, Vex, Zorro and I were all full. A happy grunt escaped the two of them and I couldn't help but smile at their reaction.
"Ah, this food is just everything!" Vex cheered.
"It sure is nice to have a café here," Zorro chimed in.
"Honestly," I laughed, "It is wonderful to have real food."
Then all of a sudden, both of their reactions turned serious. "Alright, Aria, so what exactly happened on the beach?" Vex demanded.
Zorro glanced at Vex, agreeing with his attitude and then turning to face me. "Seriously, you and Blaziken seemed like you were in a real skeptical situation," He commented.
I flattened my ears and shuffled my front paws a bit. I didn't expect them to jump into the conversation about the beach so quickly. But I guess they had every right to know what even happened in the beginning while we went to the beachside. A soft sigh escaped me and I opened my muzzle to speak softly, ensuring that my voice was kept low, "Vex, Zorro, do you know anything of Articuno?" I didn't want to go into details about what Blaziken was commenting on me. Though, Blaziken himself didn't say much to me about anything. I was hoping he'd have some details about me that I didn't have.
"Articuno?" Zorro asked, and put one of his little black paws up to his nose area. "Why do you ask?"
"I'm curious to know about Articuno," I shared with them. "The encounter I had with that Froslass, Koyuki, was… Very interesting," I murmured. My ears flattened against my head as the memory of them threatening to kill me hit me. I still couldn't believe they were going to kill me.
"Articuno, legendary ice-bird pokémon. Rumor has it he is the legendary pokémon that sits atop the mountain," Zorro shared with me, recalling information from a previous book he had read. "While this is not confirmed by anyone in the guild, they share that he is an important symbol of the mountains," He explained to me, avoiding all eye contact and staring at his feet.
"Well," I said very quietly, and took in a huge breath, letting it out slowly, "Koyuki said that was the pokémon watching over me that day."
Both of their heads shot up and locked gazes with me, eyes growing wide with concern.
Vex shook his head, "No way! I sort of know how Articuno's aura feels, but that was not it!" He exclaimed loudly.
"Shh!" Zorro hissed at him, scanning the restaurant to ensure no one was listening in to our conversation. Luckily, it was pretty loud and busy at the café right now – being lunch time. "Besides, Vex said he saw a pair of glowing blue eyes, and as my books can confirm, Articuno has red eyes," He murmured.
I raised a Vulpix eyebrow at him and motioned with one paw to my own eyes, commenting, "And my eyes are red."
"Yes, but you're a special case," Zorro shoved the thought aside. "I mean, you look like a Galarian Vulpix, but you're not at the same time because of your special features," He noted to me.
"Well, in the event of Articuno having blue eyes," Vex questioned, "What's to say it wasn't him? I mean, the you-know-what was glowing when I found Aria."
Zorro shrugged and let out a confused sigh, "I honestly have no idea why a feather that has fallen off Articuno would be glowing," he murmured under his breath. "It doesn't make sense."
"Oh, did you recover it?" I asked the two of them.
"Of course we did!" Vex replied happily, throwing a fist in the air with success. "That Palossand was no match for us!" He commented. "Except, he did run off with some coin, but that's easy to get back." The pokémon dismissed it with a flick of his hand. Then he turned his focus back on to me, eyes serious once more. "What did Blaziken want?" He asked me.
"Mmmm, nothing really. He just had a couple questions about what I could remember from Shattered Shrine. Oh that reminds me…" I trailed off as I shouldered the bag off of my back, and onto the table. I nosed through it to grab the few pieces of the Atlas that I had broken in an accident. "How angry do you think the Atlas pokémon will be?" I asked, flattening my ears and offering an embarrassed smile.
Zorro and Vex exchanged glances and shrugged. "Should we go find out?" Zorro asked.
I shook my head and disagreed, "If we could wait a bit…?" I let out a soft chuckle.
"Here," Vex murmured, digging into his own satchel and grabbing something from it. "Take mine to use, in case you get lost again. I typically can track well with my aura, as long as it's recent." He explained, handing me his atlas and taking the broken one.
A warm smile came across my face as he put the collected one into my bag. "Thank you, Vex, Zorro." I said to the two of them. "Do we have any missions today?" I asked them, sliding the conversation into something else.
Zorro nodded and pushed himself up and out of his seat. "Yes, we do. We oughta get on those so that Fae doesn't bother us," He explained with a huge yawn. "Come on. We need to head to Avalanche Valley, and yes," He paused and turned to face me, "It is exactly as the name suggests. So we must be quiet as best we can in that area. Most pokémon avoid it." He explained.
I nodded in agreement, replying, "I'd rather not be stuck in a cavern again surrounded by snow."
"Again?" Vex questioned me, highly suspicious. "What do you mean, again?" The pokémon had frozen in his footsteps as we were beginning to leave the café.
"Oh," I replied, "OH I left it out. Takao had tracked me down somehow and guided me to safety so we weren't left in the blizzard."
Vex raised an eyebrow and nodded slowly, his face looking rather disappointed. Then he grinned widely and crossed his arms, letting out a chuckle, "I'd expect nothing less of a Tier SSS Member!" The pokémon cheered loudly and then took the lead outside of the café.
I exchanged glances with the hisuian zorua beside me, and as soon as our eyes connected, we couldn't help but let out another laughter towards the happy riolu. I'm glad to see Vex wasn't super worried about me, nor Zorro. It was relieving to know they weren't that worried. I guess they had high confidence in me, which made me have high confidence in myself. I watched as Zorro chased after Vex, being left behind in the cafe by myself. I looked around the café once more before raising my head to look at the mural on the walls of the legendary and mythical pokémon. My gaze locked on the small pokémon that was on the mural beside the large black and red pokémon (eternatus.) I stared at the smile that the smaller pokémon had on his face, recalling the name of this pokémon was Hoopa. Millie, the milotic and owner of the café, had mentioned that Hoopa worked alongside Eternatus to bend dimensions to allow Dynamaxing. Since he is able to bend dimensions, did he possibly bend the wrong dimension and drag me into this world? Maybe one day I can find this mythical pokémon and ask him, but the odds of him even knowing or recognizing me was slim to nothing. It is extremely likely that this pokémon doesn't notice what he can do and who it affects. I couldn't help but feel overwhelmed with sadness.
"Are you coming, Aria?" Vex's voice asked, as he popped his head around the corner of the door frame.
"Uh-uh yeah," I stammered and turned away from this pokémon on the mural, making my way outside to the town.
Outside, the town was still busy for lunch time. A lot more pokémon were in town than usual. Perhaps more pokémon are slowly migrating to Snowberry, hopefully it builds the town up. It'll bring a lot more awareness to the Snowberry Guild, and hopefully help bring up the guild. Or maybe a lot of these pokémon are from Novaus, trying to avoid the chaos of the dynmaxed pokémon. Speaking of which, I wonder what happened to the dynamaxed pokémon. Were the Tier SSS members of the guilds in the Solaris Region able to quell this dynmaxed pokémon? I sure hope so. I haven't felt any weird earthquakes since the first time Shaymin had mentioned it. A soft sigh emitted from me as I began to think of all the chaos that was unraveling.
"Avalanche Valley is going to be towards the mountain area. It's at the base of the mountain, but in between large hills of the mountain, surrounded by rocks," Zorro explained to me. "It's a bit of traveling though, sadly, but we'll get there eventually. We have, surprisingly, three missions there. I picked them up when I realized all three were there."
"What are the odds of three missions being there?" Vex commented, thinking about the issue. He put his hand to his mouth, and crossed his other arm on his body.
"Well," Zorro replied, "One of the missions is just bringing a family a few supplies from town. They are on through the valley, and typically ask for a few things from the guild every once in a while. Often, you will see Yuuta or Cloud checking in on them, as they're often the ones taking their mission."
"Really? What do they do all the way out there?" I asked. "You'd think they'd want to be close to town."
Zorro shrugged, "They must have some kind of business out there. They do a lot of trade with Yuuta and Cloud, exchanging items but also typically asking for items to support our guild as well."
"I don't think we've been out that way in a long time," Murmured Vex. "I don't recall the family."
"I do believe they're a new traveling family. Almost like a traveling market," Zorro explained, trying to recall the details that he was shared with by Cloud.
"Sounds like a plan!" I cheered, "I can't imagine they'll be out here very long if they're travelers," I questioned it.
Zorro nodded in agreement to my remark and picked up the pace a bit, leading us on the adventure to the Valley.
The valley was quite a bit of ways from the town, being pushed towards the mountain side. It was almost about an hour walk from where Takao and I stayed, or at least, in that direction. This valley was in between two of the mountain walls, but with trees surrounding both sides. A large path lined the middle of the valley, with a small, thin frozen stream running up the middle, which would eventually dump into Glacier Rose Lake. Again, there weren't many pokémon in this area, as I suspected. It seems like Winterry is pretty empty minus the town. It seemed like Snowberry was the only town available for pokémon. The trees here were bare, of course, minus a few of the pine trees that stuck out of the ground. The area was quiet, very peaceful, but one loud noise I feel as though could disrupt the mountainsides and cause an avalanche. I'm not sure why any pokémon would want to stay in such a dangerous area. The beginning of the valley had several patches of flowers that were able to survive the winter's cold.
"Ok, so, we'll go ahead and meet up with this family first and drop off their items they are needing," Zorro murmured.
Vex nodded in agreement, "That way on our way back we can just grab whatever is needed for the other two missions."
"You said you hadn't been here in awhile, right?" I asked the two pokémon, glancing around the snow-covered area.
"That's right. I think it's been since summer time," Vex replied.
The zone made me feel happy, just all of the snow and ice surrounding me made things better. Not only was it super pretty, but it was also just a really relaxing area. Since there aren't any pokémon out there, not that I could see, it made it even better.
"How hot is it here in the summer? Will I have to move?" I asked, jokingly.
"Perhaps," Zorro said straight with not even a single laugh or any notion to share he was kidding.
"What?" I stammered, staring at him with a bit of worry.
"Summers get pretty hot here," Zorro added, shrugging.
Vex couldn't help but chuckle, and he elbowed the pokémon on the left side of him. "He's joking, summers here stay surprisingly cool," He shared with me, smiling.
"Oh! I learned a new move when I was training with Takao!" I gasped, jumping in front of them, forcing the two of them to stop. I was quite proud of the new move I learned. "Look, look," I chimed.
"Hold on, I see something!" Zorro quickly dismissed me, and ran around me and darted quickly forward.
I was a bit disappointed that Zorro wasn't interested in my new move, especially since he was the one who said I should work on training myself, but I let it go when I looked forward and noticed an awkward clearing. It looked almost like it was burnt and seared, honing a red tint color to it. The coloring was fresh, and it looked like you could still see the steam off of it. I joined Zorro who was looking around the area, trying to find any signs of pokémon along the cave entrance. It was a smaller cave entrance, but one could not see inside at all.
"Vex, do you sense anything?" Zorro asked.
I sat back a bit, sitting down in the snow. When it came to tracking, I was a bit useless compared to Zorro, who had a strong sense of smell, and Vex, who could literally see pokémon's aura.
Vex shook his head and replied, "No. But the scorching heat is still warm. It didn't happen today, but possibly last night at some time. This pokémon's fire is rather strong."
"Was it Blaziken?" I asked out of the blue, wondering if the fire bird pokémon had left yet for his meeting.
Again, Vex shook his head. "No, the aura isn't his. I can sense a very weak aura, like this pokémon was hiding something."
"That's weird," Zorro asked and gazed around the clearing. "Where is Copper and her family? They are supposed to be meeting us here. We need to deliver this with them before trying to look into this."
"Team Aster!" A pokémon shouted from up above us. The three of us all turned our attention towards the small voice above us. It was a little orange and blue pokémon, it's long trunk waving at us. "Up here, hurry!"
The first one to take off was Vex, the most caring one of us all. He climbed those rocks so fast, it was incredible. After Vex made his way up to the mountain, Zorro followed. I was left at the base of the mountain path. I could make the jumps, but I was still sore from the other day. Huffing, I struggled to climb up the rocks as best as I could.
"Daddy tried to stop the big bad pokémon," This little orange and blue pokémon spoke, her eyes widened with fear.
Vex was hovering over two large pokémon, looking as though they may have been ko'ed.
"But it took all our stuff, including all our money and rare trinkets!" The pokémon whined, tears forming in her eyes. "I tried to help, I really did!" The pokémon plopped down on it's behind, next to a huge orange and green-blue pokémon, as if it was the little one's evolution mon.
At the top of the mountain, I came face-to-face with the two pokémon laying on their sides, still in pain. They did not have any bags or anything with them. They were just laying there, beaten by whatever attacked them. I couldn't help but flatten my ears in worry, unsure what to do.
Zorro was scrambling into his bag and brought out a couple berries, trying to feed these larger pokémon these berries to help them recover their strength.
The little blue and orange pokémon looked up to me, tears streaming down her face. "Why did they attack us?" She whined.
"Shh, Cufant, it's okay," Vex murmured to the pokémon, trying to console her while Zorro was making remedies for these two larger pokémon's injuries. "You tried your best, I'm just glad you're not hurt! I bet you were so brave!" He exclaimed, trying to distract her from Zorro feeding the others the remedies and berries. He would occasionally sideways glance over to Zorro, watching him as he helped these pokémon.
I wasn't sure how to react, as I've not much experience with pokémon that I can recall. I looked at these two pokémon, just examining their wounds. The large blue-green and orange one was more injured than the other rocky-coal looking one. Being a steel type, these fire injuries did a lot worse than what it would've done to the rock type. But how did he get so injured then? I tried to put two and two together. This pokémon that must've attacked them either wasn't alone or knew multiple moves, including a fire and fighting type. There were several fire-fighting pokémon, and I couldn't help but think of Blaziken. He was a fire and fighting pokémon, but there is no way in Arceus's name he would do this.
"Cufant, was it?" I asked quietly, crouching down to her eye level. "Do you remember what the pokémon looked like when they did this?"
She shook her head, almost wacking me in the face with her trunk. "No," She replied, "It was dark, all I know is I was told to run, but I didn't. I tried to help out, but was thrown off to the side – which means this pokémon was super strong since it could lift me!" The pokémon let out a huff and then stood up on her large hooves again. "I saw a lot of fire," She motioned to the burn marks on the cave entrance. "Then it ran into The Emerald Caverns. It looked different though, it seemed like it was hurting and it was a bit bigger than most pokémon, but then again I don't know what kind of pokémon it was." She continued to speak, finally trailing off.
"Uughhh," A groan of pain came from the large black coal pokémon, which I recognized as a Coalossal. "Cufant? Copper?" He murmured, sitting up slowly and rubbing his large coal-lit head.
"There's one," Zorro murmured and began to work on the other pokémon, Copperajah. "Copper will be fine," Zorro explained to the Coalossal.
One could see that Coalossal was hurting, but he seemed to be okay after Zorro's remedies.
"Daddy!" Cufant exclaimed, jumping her heavy self in the direction of the rocky-coal pokémon.
"Cufant, I'm so glad you're okay!" He let out a sigh in relief.
"Is Mommy okay?" The little one asked.
"She will be as soon as I can finish mixing these," Zorro replied. "Vex, do you have any sitrus berries? I'll need one," The red and white pokémon asked.
Vex nodded slowly, and then dug into his bag, bringing out a berry that had no bruises or anything in it. Handing it to Zorro, he looked back at Coalossal and asked, "Do you remember what happened?"
Coalossal shook his head, frowning some. "I honestly cannot remember a darn thing. We set up camp last night, sent our request in, and then went to bed," He explained, standing up while Cufant danced around him. "In the middle of the night, something attacked us up here in our campsite, I couldn't even remember the pokémon. All I know is whoever attacked us was not like any of us. He was larger."
"Dynamaxed pokémon?" Zorro popped up, while mixing some ingredients.
"No, it wasn't big enough to be a dynamaxed pokémon – at least not like the one we heard about in Novaus. I heard that pokémon was huge before they quelled it," The fire-rock type explained. "He was strong, and knocked out Copper with a single fire blast," The pokémon looked down at the sleeping steel type and frowned. "I am glad she will be okay, thank you Team Aster. I do apologize though, as now we do not have any coin to trade for the items you had brought us." He bowed his head in apologies and let out another sigh.
Vex smiled widely and shook his head, digging into his bag once more and grabbing a few items. "No worries, Coalossal! You've done so much for Snowberry, these are on us!" He grabbed three items out of his bag, and nosed them over to the pokémon. "Actually," He murmured, and shook his head. "Here," The pokémon slid the bag off his shoulders and took the broken atlas out of it, and any other personal belongings, and passed the bag to the Coalossel and Cufant. "You can have this," He offered.
"Ah, Vex," I heard the large blue-green and orange pokémon, Copper, say, "You really don't have to do that." Her voice was soft and full of pain. The large Copperajah slowly rolled over to her belly and lay there for a moment, eating up the rest of the remedy that Zorro had created real fast.
"Mommy!" Cufant exclaimed, so loud and happily.
"Shh," Copper soothed her youngling, pulling her closer with her trunk, and softly saying, "You know what this valley is known for, right?"
Cufant squealed and covered her mouth with the tip of her trunk. She shook her head and just snuggled into the large Copperajah. Coalossel also was now holding the two pokémon and he had a grateful smile on his face.
"You're the new mystery Vulpix, aren't you?" Copper asked me, directing her attention to me almost immediately, looking me up and down. Her eyes stopped on the flame-like crest. "Interesting Symbol you have there, I don't think I've seen it before, sorry," She murmured sadly.
I shook my head, offering a friendly smile. "It's okay. It's all one big mystery," I replied. "It's nice to meet you, you seem like a very happy family." I stated the obvious, flattening an ear in embarrassment. I didn't like others knowing me as the mystery mon, but I guess we'll just have to accept it. I guess everyone knows me by everything but my name. Hah, hah, hah…
"We are the happiest!" Cufant cheered loudly.
Coalossel gave her a stern look and she instantly piped down again. He then turned his attention back to us, "Team Aster, I really appreciate the help you've given to our family in regards to this incident. If I can recall what has happened, I will be more than happy to reach out to you about it. I can say this, if it wasn't for you, I'm not sure how long it would've taken for us to recover," He looked down at the small Cufant who was bouncing around happily.
"From the bottom of our hearts, thank you Team Aster. We will not forget this act of kindness," Copper replied with a huge smile on her face. She had pushed herself up on her large hooves, and stretched. "I feel much better, Zorro. Mind if I have the recipe for that remedy?!"
Zorro nodded and began to share with her how to make the remedy.
I turned away, staring back down at the large cave hole. I hopped down off the rocks carefully and looked around it, trying to find any hints of something that might have done this. All I could see was fire scorch markings, lining the cave opening with it. Any moss or vines that were growing, were not torched to flames. It definitely was a powerful fireblast of some kind. My curiosity got the best of me as I tried to find more hints of this attack. I poked my head into the cave entrance, scanning the inside of the wall and trying to find something. There was no smell of any pokémon that may have caused this, just more scorch markings. That's when something out of the corner of my eye caught my attention. It was a tuft of orange, sitting next to something. It was a silver piece that had been chipped off of something, almost like the tip of a silver spike. Maybe an item broke. But this orange tuft, it kind of looked like fur of a pokémon, maybe the fire type that attacked the family? I grabbed the evidence as quickly as I could and threw it in my bag. I'll have to ask about it in a little bit. Right now, we had to focus on a mission.
My attention turned towards the cave when I could hear something in the distance. It almost sounded like a cry, but I don't think it was. Perhaps it was so far away that my ears could only hear so much of it.
"Did you find something?" I heard Vex's voice pop up behind me.
Startled, I jumped up off all four paws and bumped into the cave wall, my eyes wide with fear for a moment. "What the?!" I growled in annoyance. "Don't sneak up on me like that, Vex!"
He chuckled softly, cuffing his own ear with one of his hands, and crossing his other arm behind him. He smiled, and said, "Sorry."
I gazed past him, up at the Zorro who was still speaking with the family of three. I looked back at Vex and asked him, "So no one knows where this cave goes?" I asked him.
The blue and black pokémon shook his head, "No, there's too many caves and too many pokémon have gotten lost trying to explore here," His voice was dark and full of sadness as he spoke. His ears flattened against his head and he sighed, "Which means we've probably gone too far," He pointed out the obvious.
My entire body tensed up again as I heard another cry deep within the cave. My head turned toward the darkness of the tunnel, not being able to see anything but the little light that lit up the cave only so far. "Did you hear that?" I asked him.
Vex shrugged, and stated, "No I didn't. What did it sound like?"
I didn't reply, only tried to listen once more, but it was silent. I frowned and began to turn around to leave the cave, "I'm not sure," I murmured.
That's when the ground below me began to rumble, hard. I lost my balance, with Vex trying to help hold me up. But the shaking got more intense. I could hear the loud cry again, except louder and more painful. "W-w-what is going on?!" I gasped, trying to walk on the shaky ground.
Vex was holding onto the wall and holding on to me, trying to keep himself and I both steady. "I honestly have no idea, but it doesn't sound good!" He exclaimed.
I tried my best to stand my ground, but the noise had gotten extremely loud, causing the rumbling to intensify even more. This was a hardcore earthquake that was happening again, and the noise wasn't helping. "Someone's in trouble!" I yelled over the loud noise and rumbling.
"We need to leave!" Vex called over to me.
I tried to lift my paw to move, but it felt like my paws were just as shaky as this earthquake that was happening. The entire area was just rumbling and the noise became a high-pitched noise. I turned to look at the cave entrance where I could see tiny little pebbles begin to fall off the top of the cave. I gasped, this cave entrance was going to collapse. "Vex, we gotta go!" I screamed at him and began to make my way to the cave entrance. I kept losing my balance, my body was shaking too much. As I was about to reach the cave entrance, I heard cracking from above me. I glanced up and stared in fear. One could see a huge boulder coming from the top of the mountain, surrounded by snow.
"AVALANCHE!" I heard Zorro hollar, "Vex, Aria! Hurry, get out!" The pokémon was pacing back and forth at the entrance of the cave. His eyes grew wide with fear as he watched the boulder tumble down with the snow. He looked at me, and then the boulder again. I could see he was going to try and beat the boulder to reach Vex and I. As soon as he put his weight in his back legs to dart, Copper pulled him back with her trunk.
"It's too dangerous, Zorro! You won't make it!" The large pokémon hollered.
I watched as the rocks came crashing down on the cave entrance, and the last thing I saw was Zorro's orange eyes full of fear, scared for Vex and I. That was when my body was thrown against the ground and out of the way of the crushing boulders, off to the side of the cave. The rumbling had forced an avalanche, causing rocks to topple down from the mountainside and into our pathway. I watched as the rocks stacked on top of each other, blocking any light. Fear rose in my body as I noticed Vex with his arms out over my body, his back against the boulders falling – he was protecting me from any possible damage and rubble that might have hit me. I could see tiny rocks pelt against his body, he flinching slightly every time one hit me.
After a few minutes of straight rumbling, it finally stopped. The loud noise from wherever in the cave had stopped. Now it was just quiet and darkness surrounding us.
"V-vex?" I murmured, not able to see very well.
"Are you okay?" I could feel his breath next to me.
I nodded and gazed around the cave. The only light that was just barely shining through were from the cracks of the rocks, and even that light wasn't strong enough. I made my way over to the cave entrance, and tried to push on some of the rocks – but they didn't budge. Vex was even using his cross chop to try and break them, but he couldn't budge them a little either.
"Zorro?" I called through the rocks.
"ARIA! Are you ok? Is Vex okay?" I could barely hear his voice.
I let out a deep sigh of relief, glad to know that he didn't try to dive in, and was pulled back in time by Copper.
"Hold on Aria, there's a lot of boulders! Colossal and I can try and move them!" Copper called through the large boulders and snow.
"O-OK," I replied.
"We'll get you out as soon as we can, just do not go exploring into the caves! You'll get lost!" Zorro warned Vex and I.
I frowned and sat down by the rocks, listening to the loud movements from the large elephant pokémon, Copper. I could hear her hitting them, but nothing was budging. How big were these boulders, or nevertheless, how many were there? Surely a pokémon like a Copperajah could move these boulders. They're pokémon that can carry so much weight! Minus the boulders though, the snow that toppled on top of it could be heavy, but that should be able to get melted? I wonder what could have even caused that huge crash. I glanced over my shoulder into the darkness behind me, with little to no light lighting the caverns up. How did pokémon see through this? Is that why Vex and Zorro said not to get near it? Did pokémon even live here? There had to be some cave pokémon that stayed here. These tunnels were perfect for dark and rock types, from my experience. Obviously some kind of pokémon had to be staying in these caves, what was the loud noise and painful cry just before the boulders? Is that what caused the avalanche?
Vex's hand rested on my shoulder and he spoke to me, "It'll be okay. They'll get help from the guild." His voice was reassuring
"Y-yeah," I murmured softly in response. "I know they will."
The small black and blue pokémon let out a soft sigh and began to scan the area, his eyes with a slight glowing tint to them. I noticed his large red eyes turning back and looking at me. "You said you heard something, right?" He asked me.
I nodded in agreement, speaking with slight worry in my tone, "I did. It sounded like someone was in pain."
"Then that's enough, let's go," He said directly to me. "We've got our mission."
"What?" I exclaimed, and then covered my mouth as I was afraid I had been too loud. "What do you mean, let's go?!"
The riolu offered a small, friendly and warm smile to me, while also extending one of his forepaws for me to reach, speaking gently, "Come along Aria."
I glanced from his eyes to his forepaw that was extended out to me and then back at the cave entrance. I flattened my ears and frowned, "But what about Zorro?" I asked, a bit saddened he wouldn't be able to join us on this mission. He had also mentioned not to explore the caves.
"Aria," Vex murmured, letting out a soft huff, "Come explore with me! It'll be fun! Besides, we are Guild Members still and we need to find the pokémon that is hurting!"
I was still trying to take in everything that was surrounding me. Vex was right, we guild members vowed to help pokémon in need of help – even if I was forced into the position. I nodded my head and then locked my unusual fiery-red eyes with Vex's red gaze. Taking his forepaw, I gripped and pulled myself up to him. "I can't see anything though," I told him.
"That's ok, I'll guide you. Riolu's are pretty well known for their vision in the dark. Which you wouldn't think would be a thing, but did you know that we are well known to also travel a pretty good distance before even being tired? That's what Zorro shared with me in one of his books he was reading, stamina? I think that's the word."
I couldn't help but let out a soft giggle at his response, nodding in agreement. "Sure, sure, guide me oh strong-one," I teased the pokémon.
"Perfect, now if you don't feel comfortable, let me know. However, since you are on all four paws and I'm on two, this might be a bit more complicated," He murmured as he tried to think of a way to guide me. His eyes fell onto my neck-area, where my bandana was that he had made for me. "Perfect," The pokémon took his little bandana off that was sitting around his own neck and tied it around his wrist. "Grab the bandana while you're following me, I'll make sure to go a good pace for you," He offered. The pokémon held his hand up, the bandana nicely wrapped around and dangling.
"What if I tear a hole into it?" I asked him, rather embarrassed.
"You'll be fine," He replied with a quick flick of his wrist. "Come on, come on! We've got so much exploring to do! We'll be the first team to solve the mysteries of Emerald Caverns!" He smiled, shaking the wrist that had the bandana tied around it.
I was still suspicious about this entire situation. I didn't like the idea of Zorro sharing that we shouldn't explore, but Vex and I needed to help the pokémon that was in pain. Embarrassed, I reached out to the bandana and bit a little bit of it, holding it gently in my mouth now. I couldn't talk very well now, maybe through my teeth but it wasn't going to sound very clear. I let out a soft embarrassed cough before feeling Vex tugging on the bandana as he began to walk me. This wasn't embarrassing at all. Nope, not at all. I could feel my face heat up with embarrassment, but luckily it was so dark to the point where no one could see it.
Vex let out a chuckle as he began to guide me through the caves, "You've no reason to be embarrassed."
"I'm not embarrassed!" I lied to him through my teeth, gripping the cloth that typically sat around the neck.
"Haha, if you say so!" He teased. "It's not like I'm a Riolu or anything." The pokémon shrugged, pulling his arm up a little to rest beside him, forcing me now to walk side-by-side with him.
I completely avoided his gaze, trying to scan the cave and make out what was surrounding us. It just felt cold, and I couldn't hear anything besides the soft, gentle breathing coming from the pokémon I was walking in line with. It was rather lonesome in the caves. I was grateful not to be on this side by myself though. It would be better if Zorro was here with us, but I guess I'll have to make do. I trust Vex, and I trust that we will make it through these caves together and find that injured pokémon. Hopefully, this pokémon was still ok. I wouldn't know what to do if we came across another injured pokémon and I couldn't do anything to help. Back there, I was useless and it made me upset that I couldn't be as helpful as Zorro with the herbs, nor could I be comforting like Vex. What would happen if Vex got injured while we were in the caverns? I'd be lost and useless to him. The idea of that hitting me in the back of my head stung. I was just getting carried through these events. I was a pokémon who claims she was a human, with no memories, and has weird looking eyes. I flattened my ears and began to slow my pace as I swarmed my brain with such fear. How was Vex even ok with traveling with me right now?
"You know something," Vex's voice started up, "These caverns, a long time ago, were actually explored." He murmured softly, his voice sounding rather saddened. "But, the pokémon that explored them… Well, he recorded the Caverns into the Atlas one day."
My ears perked up when Vex started speaking again, distracting me from my sad thoughts.
"He was the greatest explorer of Snowberry!" The pokémon exclaimed, his voice chinning up slightly. "Everyone knew of him, even in the other guilds around the regions," Vex let out a soft chuckle. "He was an amazing explorer."
"Really?" I asked softly, trying to fully focus on his conversation.
"Yeah, he was the best, stronger than Luxray and Drago back at the guild," Vex's voice dropped back down to a small tone.
"What happened? Are these caves not recorded into the atlas anymore?"
Vex shook his head, gently guiding me around a large pillar and down a steep slope in the dark. He grunted as he tried to focus on not falling down this slope. "N-no," He stuttered, holding up his and my own body as we gently climbed down the slope. "In fact, no one knows what happened to the records."
"What do you mean?" I asked, nearly losing my grip and tumbling down.
"Well," Vex grunted, as he forced me back onto my paws, finally becoming flat-footed again. "I honestly don't know why the records were deleted," He explained. "I… Never got to ask him before…" He stuttered off when he came to a freezing point.
"Vex?" I asked him, as I bumped into him coming to a halt. This pokémon tensed up like a log, his red eyes wide with confusion and fear. The pokémon was staring ahead at something, and I couldn't see what he was staring at. It was just dark where he was staring at. Worry washed over me, and so I nudged the pokémon with my cold nose, which startled him, but caused him to come back to reality.
"I-" He stuttered and shook his head, "Aria, did you hear one or two pokémon?" He asked out of the blue.
"Just one," I responded quietly to him. "Why? What is happening?" I was worried for him. What if what he sensed up ahead wasn't something that we were prepared for?
"Uh," He paused to think for a second and then frowned, "Nothing. It couldn't be. Come on, we need to go this way." He told me, leading the way faster this time.
The pokémon was fast on his feet, making it harder for me to follow up with him. I tried my best, making sure I stepped around when he stepped around. I did not want to get lost in these tunnels, granted, I was with Vex, I still didn't want to get lost. Between the darkness and the quiet, I had no idea what was in here.
Vex had slowly picked up the pace every few seconds, wanting to just take off. I knew he wanted to just go after whatever he was sensing with his aura. I didn't even have time to look around the caves to take in the scenery – not that I could see much.
"It can't be, it can't be," I heard Vex mutter to himself, running faster and faster.
I began to panic a bit, worried that Vex may have gotten hit on the head. He was muttering to himself, completely forgetting that I was doing everything I can to hang on to the cloth that was wrapped around his wrist so I didn't get lost. "V-ve-vex?" I squeaked between my teeth, "Can you please slow down? I'm struggling!" I had to keep a tight grip on the cloth and I could feel it tearing, but I continued to try and hold on to the little bit of cloth I had left. However, I was completely blocked out. Vex was focused on whatever it was that he was chasing after.
After several moments of hanging on and trying to stay connected to this pokémon, I finally gave up and let go. I was not as fit as this pokémon, nor was I built for constant running. I had come to a slow stop after I had let go of the cloth and was now left by myself. I took a moment to catch up to my breath, and realized that I was no longer surrounded by darkness, but rather a tad bit of strange shimmering lights. I was surprised by my surroundings when I realized I was next to the water running through the cave, and green gemstones popping up out of the walls here and there. These must be the emeralds that gave these caves their name. These emeralds had a slightly glowing shimmer to them, barely lighting up the area. I looked at the running stream next to me and listened to it for a moment while I caught my breath.
I watched as Vex followed the water, going upstream it looked like. Once I had finally caught my breath, I chased after this pokémon in hopes I could catch up with him. When I rounded the corner of the path, I came to a halt only to see Vex looking into a wide room with his eyes locked on something ahead. From far away, I could tell that Vex was not happy. His hands were clenched, and his breathing had intensified. This was not good. I slowly prowled my way up to beside Vex and my eyes locked on two pokémon standing in a round room, surrounded by flames on the wall and a pokémon in the middle of the room behind the two large pokémon.
My eyes grew wide when I recognized what two pokémon these were.
"It's nice to see you again, Brother."