Hey, all. Got this one out sooner than the last one, thankfully. What strange happenings are to occur? You must read to find out!
0000000
"If you're going to get anywhere today, you should probably leave soon."
Erin looked up from her bowl of cereal at Artemis. It was late in the morning and there had been no hint that Turner and his men had been chasing them. Maybe he wasn't going to chase after them at all. Maybe he finally realized that he could never own her and gave up the battle.
"You're right," she replied. Even if they weren't being followed, Erin and her group could not stay there. They would all get restless, herself included, and would soon require the open road ahead of them so satisfy their wanderlust. She could not expect their new friend to harbor them for long. No, they would need to leave soon.
Artemis had put together a pack for Erin to carry that was full of food and had a few medical supplies in it as well. The old lady would make sure Erin was taken care of on her journey, at least until she reached the next town and could stock up on supplies. She had congratulated Erin again on training pokemon "the old-fashioned way." Thirty minutes after Erin had finished eating, the group was ready to head out.
"Thank you again, Artemis. I don't know how I'll ever be able to repay you for what you've done for me and my pokemon," Erin said as she gave the lady a hug.
"What did I tell you yesterday?" she replied.
"I know, I know: my company was payment enough. I'll never forget you, though."
"Thank you, child. I don't think I'll forget you either." Then she turned to Abadon. "And you, you big oaf: you take care of her. You mean a lot to her, and she to you, so both of you had better take care of each other."
"I will, ma'am," the charizard answered humbly.
With that, Erin situated her new backpack to a more comfortable position on her shoulders and the group left, headed toward the mountains in the distance. Khyt had suggested that, if Turner was still chasing them, that their trail would be more difficult to follow on rock. Then, maybe in a day or two, Abadon would be well-rested enough to fly them to a city. After that they would be virtually untraceable.
Soon after leaving Artemis' clearing the forest turned darker and more brooding. The leaves were shriveled, the grass was sparse, and the bushes were mostly bundles of twigs. There was not a pokemon to be heard. Erin missed Artemis already.
As they neared the mountains the number of trees dropped even further. The roots of the trees would have a harder time taking root in the rough soil, so the group wouldn't have much cover besides the rock itself until higher up, where the coniferous trees would begin to appear. Erin was glad they had plenty of food, because there wasn't much she could do with pine cones. Chasm would only eat a little in the morning and at night, as would Khyt, Abadon wouldn't eat again for the next few days since he had eaten his fill the day before, so all Erin would have to pay attention to would be Nero. She would feed him a little bit of whatever she ate once she got hungry.
After a while, however, Erin noticed that something was up with Chasm. The umbreon was walking beside her and was silent, as usual, but Chasm also looked around more than usual. She would glance to her left and right and her yellow eyes constantly surveyed the terrain, as if searching for something. Erin didn't ask her about it yet though, in case it was something personal.
When Erin's stomach growled an hour or so later, she decided that they should all take a break so she could eat. She handed Nero a piece of bread and he scampered off with it as if he had just discovered a pirate's hidden treasure. He then flew up and sat on Abadon's head to eat it, which amused the charizard greatly. Now Erin would confront Chasm.
Erin caught the umbreon's eye and held it, attempting to draw understanding.
"I think I know where we are," Chasm told her privately, comprehending Erin's gaze.
Erin's eyes widened at this unexpected news. "What?" she asked. "How?"
Chasm's eyes shifted to a rock formation to her left. "If I am correct, which I usually am, than this is they very mountain on which I used to make my home."
"What!" called Erin, louder than she meant to, which drew the stares of the other three. "Oh, it's nothing," she tried to cover with a wave of her hand. When that only drew annoyed stares she said, "Fine, it is something, but I'll tell you later." This satisfied her friends for the time being and Erin resumed her conversation with Chasm.
"What do you mean you used to live here?"
"Just what I said. My pack and I, we chose this mountain because of its remote location. If you remember I… I used to despise humans, for what they had done to this land. Even now I am not able to trust most of them, but I have learned that some, like you, have the best interest of the world at heart. Well," she continued. "My pack also despises humans, so we went as far away from them as possible. There is an area further up that has a giant lake and a canyon, as well as caves next to a leveled off clearing. This is where we decided to make our home."
"So what happened?" asked Erin.
"My hatred was greater than theirs," Chasm confessed. "Whereas the rest were content on driving off the rare human that dared to enter our territory, I thought we should leave and travel around, seeking out humans and their filthy pokemon to destroy them. They refused, so I left alone. It was in that state that we met and you opened up my eyes."
Erin remembered that day clearly, for it was during the battle with Chasm that Abadon evolved from a charmeleon into a charizard.
"We should stay as far down the mountain as possible if we are to avoid them," Chasm said.
"Avoid them? Don't you want to see your family again?"
"I now trust and travel with a human, that I do; they would not understand."
"Yeah, but-"
"Its better this way," the umbreon said, ending the conversation. "I am fairly certain that I can safely navigate us to the other side."
"Okay, I guess," Erin consented. "If that's what you want."
Now finished with her quick meal, Erin explained things in condensed terms to the others, who were equally interested. Then she hoisted her pack and the group set off again, this time with Chasm in the lead.
Ping
A droplet of water hit Erin directly on her nose. She looked up at the sky.
Ping. Another on her forehead. The clouds above were only a light gray, so the rain wouldn't fall too hard, but to their left, the direction from which the wind was blowing, they were considerably darker. A storm was coming.
"We should find shelter," said Khyt, who was more in tune to the environment that the rest because of his type.
"We will keep moving, that we will," pushed Chasm, unwilling to stop.
"No," persisted Khyt. "We need to find shelter. A major storm is going to hit us in under the hour and we don't want to be in this open space when it does. It would be best to wait it out and continue when its over." As if on queue the wind started to pick up and Erin looked at the sky again, noticing the sinister movements to the clouds.
Chasm turned to face them, her delicately fine black fur waving in the wind. She could feel the slightest change in air currents and could thus judge an opponent's movements in a way that bordered on precognition. Chasm knew the severity of the storm that was coming yet was still choosing to ignore it, despite the danger it could cause them. She must really not want to waste any time in getting away from this mountain and her family. There was more to this than the simple fact that the umbreon did not want to be seen traveling with humans.
She sniffed the air and could taste the coming tempest on her tongue. "Yes," she consented. "We'll find shelter. But we'll continue along this path and the first decent overhand or cave that we find we'll use as a refuge from the storm, that we will."
Erin nodded, glad that Chasm came to this conclusion on her own, or else Erin would have had to step in and make it for her. She didn't want to fight with Chasm, so soon after they had helped each other escape from the Agency. "Lead the way, Chasm."
The umbreon turned back around under the steady rhythm of light rain. Erin allowed Khyt and Nero to move ahead of her in the line and lingered back next to Abadon.
"What's up with the feline?" Abadon sarcastically asked Erin out the side of his mouth.
"I'm not certain," Erin answered, "But it has something to do with her family. They must have really had their differences, because she doesn't want to risk meeting up with them again."
"Family problems; I know what that's like."
"I guess all three of us have that in common, then," replied Erin.
Abadon looked down at her, hearing the bitterness in her voice mixed with sadness. "I knew you had some family issues, but what's up?"
Erin hesitated, unsure if she wanted to divulge any information on the subject, but then realized that Abadon was her best friend, pokemon or no, and should always be honest with each other. "My dad isn't the best role model in the world," she began. "He drinks a lot, or at least he used to, so my mom left him a while back. She's supposedly the responsible one, only she's not that good with kids, or doesn't really like them, so when she left my dad, I got to stay with him."
Erin paused for a bit, gathering her thoughts and rubbing her arms for warmth in the chill breeze. The rain had started coming down a bit harder and they were all getting wet, though not uncomfortably so. "My mom comes from a rich family and inherited all their money. At least, she will inherit it once her dad dies, but she can spend as much of it as she likes and doesn't have to worry about it getting low. It's thanks to that money that I was able to go to the Academy, because the tuition is really expensive and the school has to pay for all the costs of laboratory stuff, buying cloned pokemon, et cetera. My dad didn't care that I was gone for so long because that meant he didn't have to worry about taking care of me and could drink whenever he wanted."
Abadon rested an understanding hand on her shoulder, giving Erin what comfort he could at the time. "Thanks, Abadon," she said, giving him a weak smile.
He drew her in a bit closer as the wind picked up again, bringing more rain with it. "Chasm!" he called to the front of the line. "Don't you thing we need to find somewhere to wait out the storm?"
"We have not passed a suitable cave yet, in case you haven't noticed."
"She's almost as testy as when we first met her, don't you think?" the Char asked Erin with a smile. It had the desired effect of lifting her spirits and Erin smiled as well.
"Didn't you say there were some caves higher up?" Erin asked Chasm.
"We do not need to go any higher, that we don't," the umbreon persisted, immobile in her decision. But in a few minutes the wind became a howling gale and the rain came down in torrents, drastically minimizing visibility.
"Chasm!" they all persisted. "We need to get out of this storm! If you know where caves are, then find them!"
"Fine!" she finally complied, only when it had gotten so bad that the storm had nearly canceled out all of her senses. Erin could barely hear her own calls to the front of the line. "Follow me!"
Their path up the mountain would have been perilous to begin with, but was now doubly so due to the storm. The rocks were slippery and dirt provided no solid footing, not to mention vision was terrible. Abadon covered Erin as much as was possible, but she was soaked to the bones none the less. They were all miserable, but as bad as it was, it was only getting worse.
Then suddenly they could see everything around them for a split second as lightening struck the forest below them in a blinding flash. The rumble of thunder that came after resounded within Erin's chest, pretending that it had a hold on her breathing. Nero hid under Abadon's wing, frightened. A minute later another flash came.
"Chasm!" called Abadon again.
"We're almost there!" Her words were muted against the moan of the wind and the steady pounding of the water from the sky.
Erin was getting tired and didn't know how much longer she would be able to travel in this weather.
But then the ground leveled off and an opening in the mountain reaching about a foot taller than Abadon appeared before them. Chasm entered swiftly, the rest of the group following.
"No one talk," the umbreon said. "Most of the caves in this mountain are connected in one way or another and voices travel far. With any luck, however, we won't be anywhere near my pack, that we won't."
"What's that smell?" asked Khyt, sniffing the air. "It smells like something's burning."
"Most likely the orange one," commented Chasm in her usual sarcastic manner. "If you haven't noticed, there is a flame burning at the end of his tail, that there is."
"No, Chasm," said Abadon, having learned long ago to ignore the umbreon's snide remarks. "I think Khyt's right. It's not just a burnt smell, but almost like a tree or rock smells after it's been struck by lightening and then caught fire."
"My, aren't we being a bit specific," said Erin with a raised eyebrow.
"But the Char is right," came a voice from the dark recesses in the back of the cave. "That is exactly what we smell like."
Erin jumped at the sound and stood ready to defend herself as Khyt tried to keep Nero behind him in protection, although Nero kept peeking around trying to see who it was that was cloaked in shadow. Chasm's ears drooped as she whispered, "No," under her breath, her large yellow eyes glowing eerily in the darkness of the cave.
"What is it?" asked the ever-eager mew.
"A houndoom," stated Abadon calmly. "A few feet behind the houndoom is a jolteon; but beyond that I can't see because they're coming out of a tunnel in the back." Abadon, like any fire pokemon, was able to switch his vision to thermal, seeing heat instead of light, therefore easily able to distinguish the shapes in the shadows. The smell of fire and electric types mixed to create a distinct odor.
"Who are you?" asked Erin cautiously.
"I should be asking the same of you, intruders," answered the houndoom in a voice as cold as steel. He strode into the light created by Abadon's tail flame and his shadow danced menacingly on the stone wall behind him. At his side was a jolteon, silently watching Erin and the others for any suspicious movements.
"Intruders? We didn't mean to intrude," Erin apologized, not wishing for a fight. "We simply needed to get out of the storm. It's too dangerous out there."
"You should not have been on our mountain at all, human," the houndoom, obviously the leader, continued, his breath smelling slightly of sulfur. "If you do not leave immediately, despite the storm, you-"
"Wait, Terr" The sweet, melodic voice belonged to a sleek espeon who now stood at the houndoom's right side, opposite that of the jolteon, who had still not spoken. Terr the houndoom, stopped to hear her out, which meant the espeon was a highly respected member of this group. She was calmly looking ahead of her to a spot on the ground slightly behind and to the right of Khyt.
The houndoom followed her gaze and his eyes widened in surprise.
"Hello, Chasm," said the espeon, her voice void of any emotion.
"Hello, Sel," answered Chasm.
Of course! Erin mentally hit herself for not realizing it earlier. This was Chasm's old pack!
Terr's lips sneered in disgust. "After leaving us for the reason you did, you now return with a human!" he growled, snapping in Erin's direction. Abadon moved ahead of her in protection.
"There is much to discuss," was Chasm's answer.
"No!" cried the houndoom. "There is nothing to discuss. You have betrayed us! You will leave now or you will not leave at all!"
"Perhaps we should at least listen to her explanation," said the jolteon, speaking for the first time.
Terr, the houndoom, was silent for a moment, contemplating his options. "Sel," he spoke to the espeon. "What is your view on this matter?"
Sel was quiet for a time as well. "We should hear her out," she said at last.
"I am grateful, that I am," said Chasm, bowing her head. She followed the three when they turned and walked to the other side of the cave. Due to the distance and ambient noise of the rain outside, the group was unable to hear them.
"This is happening too fast," said Erin, leaning up against the wall of the cave opposite Chasm. "Chasm found her pack and they almost decide to kill us but now they're talking it out and I don't have the slightest clue what they're saying."
"I can help you eavesdrop, if you want me to," said Nero, innocent as always.
"How?"
"He's psychic, remember?" asked Khyt. "He can get into their minds. Actually, you will only be able to breach the jolteon's mind, for the other's types will inhibit that ability," he said to the mew.
"That's fine," Nero replied. And before Erin had time to say anything in response, she was shocked to hear the conversation across the room as if it were happening right in front of her."
"Explain your companions," Terr was saying. Erin had missed some of the conversation, but not much.
"I assume you are referring to the human in particular," answered Chasm. The human? Had Erin been reduced to that label so quickly now that Chasm was once again with her pack?
"You always were a quick one when it came to wit," the houndoom replied with the same sarcasm that Chasm herself used in her banter with Abadon.
"Very well. First of all, her name is Erin, not merely The Human. Second of all..." here she hesitated. "She is unlike any human I have come across before."
"Explain yourself."
"She does not hold to the belief that all pokemon require a master to be able to function properly. She is from an Academy, which is a place where humans learn about pokemon and then are given a lab clone as a pet and are expected to attempt to train them. Erin does not possess a clone because she was expelled from her school for protecting a pokemon. She protected one of our kind, lab pet or not, over a human."
"One kind act does not free her of the sins of her kind."
"When we met I attempted to kill her, that being the reason I left here in the first place. When I did not succeed, Erin healed me and forgave me for what I had attempted to do. I am not saying that all humans should be left alone now. On the contrary; a while later a large group of humans captured us and brought us to a place of which I still do not understand its meaning. I do know they intended us harm, and inflicted much of it upon Erin and the Char. Despite this, she freed me and many other pokemon at the cost of her own life. She believes us to be capable of her same level of intelligence, and works with us. She does not control us, but allows us to make our own decisions. She is a human that deserves to live among our kind."
Here they were all quiet. Terr stole a glance at Erin and the others, who were all staring at their huddle intently and were now forced to suddenly look away coughing as if they had been looking at something else entirely. Terr snorted and a whiff of smoke came out his nostrils. He rose and strode over to Erin, his decision made. Whether it was in her favor or not would soon be made perfectly clear.
"I thought you had forgotten about us." It was the jolteon who had spoken under his breath, thinking no one else would be able to hear. But Erin, who was unaware Nero still had a lock on his mind, was able to hear perfectly.
"I could never forget about you, Jasper," answered Chasm, equally quiet, yet equally heard. Maybe there was more to this than Erin was formally aware.
The houndoom who had control of their current fate now regally stood in front of Erin, causing her to feel rather diminished in prospect. She was still soaking wet, though that was improving thanks to Abadon's tail flame, which she now appreciated fully.
"My name is Terr," he spoke. "This is Jasper and this is Sel," he said, cocking his head in their respective directions. I am the leader of this pack and my word is final. Will you accept that, human, without question, despite the outcome?"
"Yes, sir, I do." Erin could not honestly think of anything else to say, or any other way to refer to the houndoom. Your majesty simply didn't fit.
Terr seemed slightly put off by the courtesy. "You and the pokemon that wish to follow you may stay until the danger of the storm has passed, but then you must leave."
"He would let you stay, if you wanted…" Jasper whispered. Chasm made no reply, and Erin motioned for Nero to disconnect the mind contact. It was no longer necessary and it was starting to freak her out.
"I will go back through the tunnel and tell the others what has transpired here." Terr made his way to the back of the cave and was then lost from sight.
"You should feel honored," said Chasm, her usual pride gone from her voice. "This is the first time Terr has let a human stay on his territory with his knowledge." Her large yellow eyes appeared sad, devoid of their usual vigor.
"Thank you," Erin said to the other two eevee evolutions. "I know that you two helped to convince him to let us stay."
There was a tension in the air and it seemed to grow thicker at Erin's innocent comment. Sel, the espeon, looked away. "I had not seen my sister in a long time and wished to spend what fleeting time with her as I could."
"Sister?" said Abadon, surprised. "You didn't tell us you had a sister."
"You never asked, orange one, that you didn't."
"I missed you, sister," Sel said, still not looking at Chasm.
"And I, you," the umbreon replied.
Jasper remained silent.
"Chasm," said Erin. "Can I talk to you over there for a second?" She pointed to a corner of the cave a ways over, closer to the back but still in the light.
"Very well," Chasm said, rising and following Erin.
"Chasm…" Erin began once she was sitting down on the cold stone floor. "Chasm, when we leave here, when we have to leave and we continue traveling I, I want you to stay."
Chasm's ears perked up. Erin had definitely caught her attention. "What makes you think I want to stay? I left for a reason," she hissed.
"Yes, because you wanted to rid the world of humans and the rest of your pack didn't see things the same way. But now you know not all humans are stupid idiots. Many are, but not all. So now you and your pack see more eye to eye. You miss them; I can tell."
Despite the tenderness in Erin's voice, Chasm would have none of it. "I left for my own reasons and I'll return when and if I feel the need to. I am not one of the lab clones that you can tell me what to do. I come and go when and where I please," she spat. Instantly, Chasm could tell she had injured Erin's feelings, despite the human's attempts to hide it. Many old wounds had been opened up all too quickly and she wasn't entirely certain as how to deal with them.
"Okay, sorry I even mentioned it," Erin mumbled as she stood up and shuffled back over to Abadon. Chasm wanted to apologize, but her pride kept her from it.
The cave was in silence for a while, and then Khyt came over and sat next to Erin. "Can I ask you a question?"
"You just did," Erin said with a weak smile.
"I suppose I did," the scyther replied with a chuckle. "I'm afraid that I'll have to impose and ask another one, however."
"Fire away."
"Do you remember when we were escaping from the agency and there was that big room with the computer?"
Gods, it seemed like years ago… "Yes."
"Well, at one point you clicked on something that said 'War Time' and cursed when you read what it said. What was so important?"
It took Erin a second, but then she remembered what Khyt was talking about. "There's this big war going on, Khyt. The media doesn't have much concrete evidence on it, so we don't know if it's region against region, country against country, or if the whole world is going crazy. But now I know who's initiating it."
"You don't mean…"
"Yeah," Erin sighed. "Turner, in his insane quest for power, started a war in hopes that all the countries or regions or whatever would get so paranoid that they would shoot blindly and destroy each other so he could come in behind, clean everything up, and take over. The man wants to control the world."
"Something tells me you won't simply take that lying down."
"No. When we leave here I'm going to find a town. I need to call Professor Chronal and tell him what's been going on. He'll believe me, though I doubt anyone else will, and will help me."
Khyt's breathing became shallower as he was beginning to put see where Erin was going with this. "Help you do what?" He was almost afraid to ask.
"I need to go back. That's why we need to get away from him now, so that we can heal up, think of a plan, and attack him before he can attack anyone else."
"You want to go back there!"
"I have to, Khyt! I'm the only one who's ever escaped from the Agency. For all I know, I'm the only one who wanted to. I have an obligation to the rest of the world to stop him and keep him from taking over. Damn it all! I don't know how I'm going to do it, that's why I need to talk to Chronal. He's the genius."
Khyt nodded. "If that's what you feel you must do, then I will help you in any way I can."
"Khyt, I can't ask you to do something as crazy as this for me."
"Nero has forged him mind with yours, which means he will follow you to the ends of the earth and back and never otherwise. I'm his guardian, which means I must follow him. He follows you, I follow him. So, I'll be coming with you."
Erin's spirits were now lifted immensely. "Thank you, Khyt, I really appreciate it."
"Think nothing of it."
Terr appeared through the tunnel again. "The others understand what has occurred in this cave and they accept my decision. But now, it seems, you will have to leave."
"What?" exclaimed Erin. "You said we could stay until it stopped raining!"
"He said no such thing," interrupted Chasm. "He said that we could stay until the danger of the storm passed. It may still be raining, but it's not raining hard, that it's not. The storm itself is over. You will only get mildly wet."
"Fine, I understand," Erin answered stoically. "Thank you for your hospitality. We'll be leaving now." She stood up and shouldered her pack, careful of her arm. It still gave her sharp pains whenever she used it too often or put too much pressure on it. Abadon thanked them as well and followed her out along with Khyt and Nero. Chasm glanced behind her one last time and then she, too, walked past the wall of slowly falling water.
No one spoke for a while. Everyone was slightly depressed. They were all tired and now, once more, they were all wet. Now that the sky was clearer though, they could see the lake that Chasm had told them about. They were all absorbed in their own thoughts as they traveled back down the mountain. So much absorbed, in fact, that they almost walked headlong into a large camp without even realizing it.
"-the hell," said Erin. Since she was once more at the front of the line, she noticed it first.
A few men were playing cards on the outskirts of the camp underneath a tarp that was strung between trees. Behind them were more tarps and trucks that held some pretty expensive looking equipment. They looked up when they noticed Erin and her pokemon. No one moved for a second, then, "It's them!" the two men screamed while standing at the same time.
"Shit!" cried Erin, turning and darting off in the other direction surrounded by her pokemon. "Shit, shit, shit! It's him! It's Turner!" She heard the commotion behind her grow in volume and knew the whole camp was now chasing after her. What could she do? She couldn't defend herself. The pokemon would have to do all the fighting, and they couldn't take on all of them at once. Damn, she wished she still had her Bo staff. She was useless! No, no she couldn't think that way. She wasn't useless. If she encountered any of those agents in close quarters she could take them in hand-to-hand. It was just a matter of getting the upper hand in the situation. She had to play this out on her terms, not his.
But it wasn't supposed to happen now! Fighting him when they had backup was going to be her terms! "Gods damn it!" she screamed.
"Now, Ms. Erin. Is that a way for a young lady to speak?"
Erin slid to a halt, almost stumbling over herself while trying to stop so fast. The breath in her lungs fled and her head spun and sweat mixed with the steady flow of rain on her head. Right in front of her, holding her Bo staff, and surrounded by three other agents and a handful of other pokemon, was Charles Turner.
"Good day, Ms. Erin. I am so thankful that we were able to meet again."
0000000
Wow, a lot happened in this chapter! It wasn't one of my favorites, but that's probably because I hadn't thought it over as well as the others and created some of it as I went. I knew the main plot points; I just didn't know how I was going to get from one to the other. Anyway, I hoped you liked it and are looking forward to the next one!