Big thanks goes out to The Cougar! Chapter nine is finally here, and didn't I tell you that I had a reason for what happened in the last chapter? Oh well, read and find out then!
Chapter 9
"Why would she do something like that?" Noric asked when it was finally okay to talk, when they suspected it was nighttime outside. The Rockets had left, and the Pokemon they left out to guard them were all asleep.
"Let me think… hmmm, maybe Takula hated her?" Fern snapped, as they all knew, Takula had no reason to have hated Fireburst.
"She's greedy." One of the golden-pelted Ninetales interjected, "Riken was trying to tell you this, Takula has been born greedy. It comes as no surprise to us that she killed someone who was known as a friend."
"Go on, elder." Another Ninetales murmured, "You should be the one to tell the tale."
"It happened when Takula first came to your pack." He continued, nodding his golden-furred head slightly, "She was only about three moons old then, am I correct?"
It was Blazewind that nodded to that, "Yes, and she had a trainer before then as well."
"Well, she never left her trainer. When Takula was released from her trainer's Pokeball, I was watching. He asked if she knew what to do, and she nodded to him. They separated, Takula walking to your camp with a limp in her step, and her trainer walking away, but putting her Pokeball in a tree first." The golden-pelted Ninetales sighed, "We thought you knew."
"We even told you." A male Ninetales, one that was ancient by all terms of his pack, stepped forward and gave Blazewind a steely look. His ribs were showing, not a good sign. This would be Tetzleflame, the Eaglefire Pack leader. "We showed you the Pokeball, we told you."
"But… she was only a kit!" Blazewind said, yet her tone told of her defeat on the subject.
"A rotten kit if you ask me." Tetzleflame growled, "But you didn't listen."
"My mother had every right to keep a kit that stumbled upon our pack!" Pyrone growled defensibly.
"Oh," Tetzleflame turned his fiery eyes on Pyrone in a look that could scorch the fur right off her shoulders, "And I suppose that taking in an Umbreon that was barely out of the kit stage isn't acceptable then? At least he proved he was loyal!" Smoke billowed from the leader's nostrils, anger making him growl in fury.
"Well…" Pyrone turned her gaze away, defeated as well, "I should have trusted him." Her voice dropped to the lowest point it could go.
"What did you say?" Tetzleflame asked in a calm voice, "I'm afraid I didn't hear it."
"I should have trusted him…" Pyrone said, barely louder then the first time. When the old leader cocked his ears, she repeated with force, "I should have trusted him!"
Many other voices added onto her own, including Fern's. When the ruckus died down, the single Houndoom began to speak, "We should get out of here, it is not safe to stay."
"And how do you suppose we get out?" Blazewind asked politely.
"We ask him." One of the Manectric spoke up, pointing her paw at a shadow lingering up above them.
"Hey! Come down here!" Blazewind exclaimed, startling the shadow into darting away from her.
"That is not how you do it." Tetzleflame stated matter-of-factly. He opened his muzzle and let out a strange cawing croon, which seemed to have worked better. The shadow landed on top of the glass dome that the fire types were inside of, and looked down with two beady little red eyes.
The Murkrow raised one wing in greeting to the Pokemon pacing around under him. "Hidey-ho!" He exclaimed airily.
"Can you help us?" Tetzleflame asked slowly, as if expecting the crow not to understand.
"Murky stand guard! Murky guard foxies well!" Murky, the Murkrow, exclaimed.
"Yes, you do stand guard well. But these, errm, foxies, want to get out."
"Foxies can't go! Murky must stand guard!"
"Look little bird!" Pyrone exclaimed, having lost her patience with the crow, "Either you let us out of here right now, or I shall find you when we do get out and eat you!"
"Murky not afraid. Murky safe as long as water foxie doesn't get mad."
"Takula?" One of the Houndour murmured.
"Why wouldn't he be safe from her if he's guarding us…" Blazewind said thoughtfully, "Huh, I think we've just gotten ourselves a clue."
"We'll protect you from that water foxie and anything else that wants to eat or attack you. What do you say? Will you help us Murky?" Tetzleflame asked pleadingly.
"Murky think about it. Murky get back to foxies later." Murky then flapped away.
"Well, that was helpful." Pyrone snapped sarcastically.
"You don't know how right you are, Pyrone, you don't know." Blazewind replied thoughtfully, "I think I know how we can get out of this mess."
"I have good news, and I have bad news." Myra mewed at the end of the day. Umbreon watched her sleepily, through half-closed eyes. The nurses had made him sleep, and had done something to him in that time.
"What's the good news?" Umbreon asked after he yawned.
"This," Myra brushed his broken leg with her forked tail, "It's not broken badly. It will heal in less than a moon."
His broken back right leg was newly bandaged in a lighter cast that Umbreon could actually lift. Even his pads felt better. "That's good, I guess." But his heart didn't go into the words. Umbreon's world was the Whitefang Pack now, and he didn't want to let it go. "So, there's bad news?"
"Yes, I've gotten word from the place your pack was taken to. I have sources there, you see." Myra responded, her happy tone melting into a sour replacement, "The Vaporeon named Takula is a killer. Did you know Fireburst?"
Umbreon swallowed, a lump forming in his throat. Surely she didn't mean that? "Yes, she was my friend's mentor."
"Well…" Myra broke off and nuzzled his cheek, "I'm sorry Umbreon. Fireburst is dead. It was Takula, and she had help from her humans."
She nuzzled the stunned Umbreon again. It took a couple of long moments for the words to sink in, become real to him. Fireburst is gone. Fireburst… "Why?" Umbreon finally croaked.
"I don't know. I really don't. Yet Takula did mention something about being able to breathe fire after this. Huh, I'm puzzled, as puzzled as you."
"I think I know…" Umbreon's eyes were shining by now. "I think I do, because you do know that Takula and Fireburst were always supposed to be good friends, right?"
"I'm sorry Umbreon; I don't understand where you're going with that." Myra replied quietly.
"Well, what if Fireburst knew about what Takula was up to?" Umbreon asked.
"What?" Myra shook her head, "Don't you think Fireburst would have told my mother long ago if that was the case?"
"What if Fireburst couldn't though?" Umbreon thought he was really onto something, "That maybe she was told not to tell, or if she thought that Takula was really doing something that wasn't bad?"
"I can't argue with you Umbreon, I really can't. But what was Takula doing that Fireburst could have caught onto?"
"Maybe she was visiting these Rockets, and Fireburst followed one day?"
"That brings up the question of; wouldn't the Rockets capture her then?" Myra stated.
"Maybe Fireburst got away, and they didn't have time to. That's it! Takula knew that Fireburst knew, so she kept her busy by making sure she has plenty to do, and is away from Blazewind!"
"How could she do that?" Myra sounded doubtful.
"Takula was the Tyro Director. This means she had the power to give tyros to pack members, just like the leader could. Doesn't it make sense? The day that Scarfang died too! I think Takula killed him…"
"So Fireburst saw Takula killing the old Jolteon, so she gave her a tyro and watched every move she made?"
"Exactly! That's why Takula and Fireburst always trained us together!" Umbreon finished happily.
"But what about Stormclaw?" That deflated his ego a bit. "You said that before Fireburst became deputy, Takula went looking for him, and that Fireburst trained you all alone."
"That was for a while, yes, about half a day. So Fireburst could have told my mother about Takula all that time. But why didn't she?"
"Your guess is as good as mine. Unless Fireburst comes back down to Earth as a ghost and tells us why, we'll never really know." Myra sighed, "Do you think that perhaps Fireburst was in league with Takula? What did you say her name was before she was deputy again?"
"Elvera." Umbreon replied, not knowing where she was going with this.
"Elva. She was a tyro with me!"
"Wonderful! What about Takula though? Why haven't you told me about her? Wasn't she a tyro when you were one?" Umbreon inquired.
"Well… yes, Takula was a tyro with me."
"Didn't you notice anything weird about her and Elva?" Umbreon continued.
"She and Elva hung around each other a lot, that's true. Wherever Elva went, Taku went as well." Myra responded thoughtfully, "But surely they weren't doing anything wrong?"
"I told you the truth about my past." Umbreon said slowly, leveling a glare at Myra, "It's about time you told me about yours."
"Right, right… Umbreon, you're a quick little guy." Myra sighed, "Get comfortable. When I was just made a tyro, my mentor was a powerful Vaporeon named Makos. He trained me along with my sister, Pyrone now, together. We were never apart, really, and that was the same way Takula and Fireburst were."
"Once, we decided to follow the pair into the forest. That was when we realized that Elva and Taku were hiding something from the pack. It was a Pokeball; Taku was claiming it was hers." Umbreon gasped lightly.
"I know. So we went to my mom and told her all about the Pokeball and what Taku had been saying to Elva about it. She was claiming that her trainer had abandoned her without releasing her. So Blazewind went up to inspect the Pokeball for a while before grinning back at me and my sister and telling us that the Pokeball had been there for longer than Taku had. So it couldn't possibly be hers."
"Do you think Taku was telling the truth?" Umbreon asked, astonished.
"Now that this has been revealed about Taku, I believe so. That was indeed two days before I was captured. My trainer had been led here as well; she has told me that, by an Eevee. Coincidence? I thought so, that one of our tyros accidentally led my trainer here, but now I'm forced to think otherwise. Taku must have set us up, trying to get my trainer to capture both my sister and I for telling on her." Myra shook her head.
"But she only captured one, you." Umbreon replied.
"Yes, because Pyra ran away before I could. She was always faster than me. I thought she would choose to become a Jolteon, but you've told me she's a Flareon… I would have become one as well." Myra's gaze was fixed somewhere else now, "Takula is a double-crossing Seviper if you ask me. I don't know about you, Umbreon, but I believe it's time to take out the trash. Come, rest, we'll leave tomorrow."
"But how am I going to move in this condition?" Umbreon asked with a hint of sadness in his voice.
"There's something you can do to get around without using your paws much at all. I'm no expert on attacks like this, but I may be able to teach it to you…" Myra was grinning slightly now, and to Umbreon, it seemed to be a bad sign for him. But she knew best, he guessed…