Dedication: This fic is for Lightning-Strike. Lightning-Strike is a talented, cool author here, whose user id is 141533. This is her Christmas fic, especially for her! ^!^ Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, L-S!
A/N: All Pokémon speech is translated, unless otherwise indicated. Review thank-yous at the end of the chapter.
Light of a Dark Black Night
8: The Mountain Path
"Why...."
Shadowgleam sat there at the top of the mountain, very still, listening to her echoes, and listening to something even after the echoes had died away.
Touchwood was glad she wasn't looking at him, because for a moment, he couldn't conceal the triumph on his face. It was there because, finally, she had stopped trying to deny... well, everything, really.
But Glimmer looked worried. Perhaps she had a point. Perhaps this new attitude of Shadowgleam's wasn't any healthier. He thought it was.
"How am I ever going to know?" Shadowgleam asked them, turning around with a pleading expression. "I want an answer and I don't see how I'm going to get it!"
Glimmer looked at the ground. Then she spoke, slowly. "Well... Shadowgleam, I am not sure, but I may know of a Pokémon who could help you."
v v v
"You were trained... so do you know about the Pokémon Gods?"
"Of course," said Shadowgleam, thinking back on them. She gave their more formal titles. "The Winged Mountain-Trio, the Three Land-Rangers, Lugia Ocean-Song, Mew the Ancient, Ho-oh the Greater Phoenix, Celebi Protector of the Forest."
"You haven't missed any, as far as I know," Touchwood told her.
"But, lately, there has come an eleventh," said Glimmer. "His domain is Mt Cayna and I think that he may find your answer."
This wasn't what Shadowgleam had been expecting. She was terrified. The Legendaries were unapproachable... yet surely a wild Pokémon like Glimmer wouldn't stray outside the boundaries of respect. But from what she had heard of the Legendaries... they were creatures of Balance, and they killed as well as saved.
But what would a Pokémon God not know?
"Let's go, then," she said boldly, forcing her tail to be calm and stop lashing, even at its tip. "What is this God's name?"
"Mewtwo," replied Glimmer, frowning. "I say that you should be careful. He is as powerful as any of the others."
"How do you know about him?" Touchwood asked her, rocking forward on his hind paws. "My tribe has never heard of this "Mewtwo."
"We are closer to Mt Cayna here," replied Glimmer, and Shadowgleam, watching her closely, wondered if she was hiding something. "His legend spreads out, although he tries to keep his existence a secret."
She knows rather a lot, thought Shadowgleam.
"Well, why not lead us there?" she asked aloud.
v v v
They went at Glimmer's pace, and Glimmer's pace (by Shadowgleam's standards) was slow. Shadowgleam shadow-boxed. She capered across the road. She told Touchwood all about her memories, mostly about important battles. Glimmer led sedately on. She broke away from the path and led them in quite a straight line, calling on her own electric powers to feel the world's magnetic field and to straighten her path. Shadowgleam approved.
Night came, and Glimmer refused to keep on going. She told Shadowgleam to think about the favour she was going to ask.
"Simple," said Shadowgleam honestly. "I want to know why I was abandoned."
"You need to think about how you are going to say it, then," advised Glimmer. "Remember that Mewtwo has no love for humans. Thus he makes his home as far away from them as he can..."
When I was first abandoned, thought Shadowgleam, I swore I would never be one of those poor champions who followed their trainer after they were abandoned. Is that how Mewtwo will see me?
I will be very careful indeed.
I'm not really like that. I just want to know. I liked Gavin. He really was a good trainer - I believe that! There has to be a reason, and I want to know it!
I am not a weakling. I am not pitiful. I couldn't fight a Legendary, if that's what Mewtwo really is, but I bet I could take on any of his followers! If he has them.
I must show him that I am a fighter. That's my skill, that's my defense. I can take care of myself, and that's not what I need his help for.
I only have a question.
Wouldn't it be easy for a Pokémon God to give me the answer?
If I could understand at all, I wouldn't be doing this.
There was no reason. I can't think of any possible one.
But there must have been, because Gavin did abandon me.
I need to know why.
Before I do anything else, make any plans, decide anything about how I'm going to live, I have to know why!
v v v
When the other two woke, Shadowgleam was training.
"Good," remarked Glimmer. "Perhaps she truly heard what I said about Mewtwo."
Touchwood would have stayed back, but Shadowgleam dragged him into the exercise. It was a battle that wasn't quite mock, and Touchwood merely confirmed to himself that he had no chance against Shadowgleam.
He tried to use Cut but she wasn't there. Instead, he was Thunderbolted. He used Strength, knowing he wasn't going to hit; used Slam, doomed to failure, and when his temper was well and truly lost, used a combination Strength/Slam that actually succeeded in knocking his Raichu opponent over.
She scrambled up immediately. "Good!" she said. "Good combo! It won't work twice!"
"That's enough, Shadowgleam," said Touchwood sourly, walking away. Shadowgleam looked disappointed. She drooped.
"Fight with yourself," he concluded. "That's what you were doing anyway."
Glimmer frowned at this statement. "We will reach the slopes of Mt Cayna this afternoon," she said, "and then we will climb it. You will probably want to save your energy, Shadowgleam, because I suspect that there may be another challenge at the top."
v v v
They went on. They stayed in a close group, helping each other over obstacles, as Glimmer's straight path often proved to be the toughest one.
They were mostly quiet, especially Shadowgleam. Occasionally, Glimmer would offer some kind of information about Mt Cayna, and Touchwood would make a nervous reply.
Although I don't know what's making him nervous, Shadowgleam thought edgily. He has no favour to ask of Mewtwo.
They saw more and more other Pokémon as they continued to walk - evidence that this area was, indeed, mostly free from the dominance of humans. Most ignored the trio completely, as travellers who would pass them by. The aggressive ones were first met by Glimmer and Touchwood's diplomacy, and those who refused courtesy, Shadowgleam fought. It was a microcosm of the way that nomad tribes worked.
Ampharos, Raichu and Furret were all nomadic species in the wild.
The sun hung in the middle of the sky when Mt Cayna began to loom in front of them.
"We have to climb that?" Touchwood asked.
"Yes. But there is a way up through the mountain itself, one that Mewtwo's strange Pokémon use."
"Is it a good idea to use it?"
Glimmer considered. "Even if we could find it... probably not."
Touchwood looked indignant.
"Remember, they value their privacy," Shadowgleam told him.
v v v
From the bottom of a woody slope, they soon looked down at the canyon. They couldn't see the source of its waters, but on the other side of the deep-flowing river was the side of the mountain itself. It rose up a long, long way. But it wasn't too steep to climb, nor were its sides especially sheer.
"We're not too high above the water," Glimmer said grimly, "so we can dive in from this point. Shadowgleam, you can swim, and Touchwood, you'll use your Surf to help get us all across."
Shadowgleam looked at her and wondered. This was a huge mountain. How were they going to climb it, even at full strength? Surely they couldn't manage it in a day... and were there enough nooks and jutting-out flat areas to rest while climbing? How far could they get without stopping?
"Don't worry, Shadowgleam," said Glimmer. "You got me up one cliff face, I can get you up another. Here's how we'll climb it," she began....
"We're going to have to do this very very quickly. If this works, we'll almost fly up the mountain. Shadowgleam, you will have to use the Friend Bond to transfer some of your Agility to me as you use it, because I am the slowest. I will help to bear us upwards by using my Cotton Spore. And Touchwood will use Strength, of course."
"Why not use your Cotton Spore to get us across the river, then?"
"Because we'd be vulnerable to the wind while we were in mid-air. We might drift along the river or even back to this side. The winds here change quickly."
"Okay..." said Touchwood. He put his box of seeds down on the ground. "I guess we'll be back," he murmured, then used Defense Curl three times, as the other two stood looking up at the mountain. He finished, and turned to Shadowgleam.
"When are you going to say 'let's go'? I'm waiting."
Shadowgleam grinned at him, and simply dived over into the water.
v v v
The water was cold, but after the first shock, it felt warm. Shadowgleam accidentally swallowed some of it, and felt power flow into her from the river. The water was so pure that she felt insulated, her electric powers restricted. This water would hardly conduct an electric current.
Touchwood's generated wave washed them over to the river's other bank... rock that simply went up. Glimmer caught hold first, and was first up out of the water... Touchwood's fading Surf move flung him up, and high and dry. Shadowgleam heaved herself out of the water, and as soon as she had a firm grip on the rock, closed her eyes to put herself into the state of hypermobility and hyper-alertness that was Agility.
When she opened her eyes again, she could almost see the river's energy still tingling on their wet fur. A warm breeze took hold of them... Cotton Spore... and Shadowgleam felt even lighter. "Give me some of your Agility," Glimmer commanded, and reached out a tendril made of light. Shadowgleam did nothing; Glimmer took strength for herself, and Shadowgleam saw it take effect, in Glimmer's eyes.
"Let's go," Shadowgleam told Touchwood, grinning.
v v v
It was the most exhilirating thing Shadowgleam had ever done. At first Glimmer's Cotton Spore power flickered... at times, Shadowgleam felt her weight increase as though a weight had just wrapped itself around its neck... at other times, she felt so light that she almost floated away from the mountain side. She didn't, but Touchwood did. Shadowgleam grabbed him from the air and shoved him to where he could get a grip. All this was while they were shooting upwards, moving as if running at high speeds over a horizontal surface.
Touchwood led, using his Strength to enlarge paw-holds as he went, so that Glimmer, who came last, could trust her greater size to them. Shadowgleam kept to the middle. Occasionally, Glimmer reached out a spark and pulled power from her, and she had to watch herself when that happened. All three of them glowed with electricity.
A rhythm quickly developed. Touchwood, the pathfinder, swarmed up the rock, punching and kicking holes into the rock when he needed to. Shadowgleam followed, never looking up, sending sparks of power to Touchwood when she dared. (It was a lot more difficult to send helpful energy to him than it was to send it to Glimmer. She learned how). At regular intervals, Glimmer would pull energy from Shadowgleam, and Shadowgleam would use a Quick Attack to make up for the loss of strength. In that tiny pause, in which they all slowed down a little, Touchwood would look up and correct their direction.
All of them slipped at times. None fell; all caught themselves. Each paw-hold blurred by.
Shadowgleam was the one who kept it all together. Her tail tip generally rested on Glimmer's shoulder; through it, she could feel her friend, and lend a little magnetic power when she stumbled. She began to worry about Touchwood's endurance, and at one point when the rhythm was strong, just after Glimmer had drained power from her, she experimented with a Double Team attack, sending her images into Touchwood and transferring their energy into him. It gave her a faint link. He screamed thanks - she knew it - but they couldn't hear each other.
It had worked, but she had limits, and she didn't use Double Team twice.
She saw nothing but the rock face, and in her mind's eye, Touchwood and Glimmer.
Touchwood at first almost didn't see the top of the mountain, but when he did, he slowed down so that Shadowgleam 'ran' into him. She snatched her paw away from his tail before it caused him to fall off the mountain. Then she looked up, for the first time, and saw the precipice too.
A moment later she sparked Touchwood in warning, and electrically spoke to Glimmer: Stop using Cotton Spore. We're almost there.
But that brought them the closest to death that they'd yet been. Touchwood and Shadowgleam felt as if they had suddenly sunk, and scrabbled at the rock face in panic. Two of Touchwood's pawholds crumbled under the suddenly increased weight. Glimmer was all right - she was used to her Cotton Spore's effects. Shadowgleam leapt - it was only a few feet - and gained the top of the cliff. Touchwood was still clinging there, paralysed with fear, with only his right paw and foot on solid rock. She offered him her tail, and he grabbed it - painfully - and pulled himself up, shaking. Glimmer took a while to find secure pawholds, but she didn't take long to join them at the edge.
One one side of them was the cliff edge they'd climbed. On the other was a dry slope.. further down it was grass, and then a forest. A forest on top of a mountain. It seemed odd...
"We can't stop, we have to keep moving," whispered Glimmer, "as long as our strength holds. When we drop our attacks we're going to faint... and when we wake up..."
She keeled over.
Shadowgleam would have moved to her side, but she couldn't move. She forced herself to fall sideways only by an effort that caused her muscles to scream, and that was all...
To all readers: Yes, I know that that's a rather odd and improbable way to climb a mountain. I hope you've managed to suspend disbelief.
Carter Tachikawa: It's good that you continue to like it.
Miss Black Dragon: Confusing? Definitely. I hope you've read Ch. 6 by now… :P
Lightning-Strike: Heheheh.. MORE! LOTS MORE!