- - -
"We won't be able to stay here for very long," said Tallaluna, looking alertly around her the next morning. Rain was still pouring down. "These cliffs are prone to mudslides. It could mean death for both of us. And there is only limited grass here."
"Do you know of a better spot?" said Maelstrom, blinking the rain out of his eyes.
Ït's a good idea to head sideways, not up or down, that way we're more likely to get out of the path of any mudslides and find less steep ground to feed on." Tallaluna stepped away from the well-grazed patch of grass and towards the west. They were currently on the south side of the mountain.
"Is your flock near here?" Maelstrom was glad that she was picking easy-to-hike paths to walk on. His flaaffy feet were still unused to walking and more than once he found himself back on all fours. If they fell now, it would take them some way down although not a sheer free fall.
"They are far from here. I'm not bringing us to my flock. You want a flock, you should go back to your own. You are lucky to have a place to call home...somewhere you do not have to prove yourself to in any way."
"I don't want a flock. Not now." Maelstrom would be a danger to any flock he encountered, he was sure. And being with the flock would not help him on his quest for revenge. "I want to evolve again."
"So quickly? Before you have even learned about the form you only just took on? You are in too much of a hurry. You need to learn about yourself in your current form, of blue light, and become comfortable living and running and fighting in that form."
Tallaluna climbed up over a boulder in their path. It was the only way over. Maelstrom tried repeatedly to scale it too, but he was not large enough to find the footholds.
"It's not about me."
"Of course it is. Evolution should always be done for the self, never for impressing others. And as a lamb you have no need to go impressing anyone yet. Enjoy your lambhood and leave the serious sparring for the older rams." Tallaluna had never met a ramling who wanted to just be a lamb. They always aspired to grow older, to be gûndië.
For a moment Maelstrom almost told her the truth. He held his tongue and let her lean back over the boulder, take him by the flippers and lift him over. His feet helped him up.
- - -
Through the thick rainstorm, Kyaru saw lights, the lights of two sheep, an ampharos and a flaaffy. Neither one was the light of her friend, but maybe they could tell her whether they had seen a young ram lamb on his own. Despite finally seeing other denryuu her hopes of finding him alive were waning.
"I lost my flock to mysterious evil when I was young," Talla was saying to Maelstrom. "The eyoraië took me in. But they did not consider me more than a charge, although I was already nearly a yearling. They were going to drop me off at the next flock they found that would accept me but I told them I wanted to remain with them. They were hesitant to accept me; they do not accept just anyone, and I was too young to begin training yet in their eyes. But their eyomah saw something in me that led her to accept me. Nevertheless I had to prove myself." She sighed. "I hate having to prove myself. But I did it. I proved my worth to them. I showed them I was bright with promise and they have not regretted their decision to make me one of them."
While Maelstrom had his head turned, watching Tallaluna speak, he noticed a light back behind them, out of the corner of his eye. He stopped and faced the shadow that slowly revealed itself through the rain. "Who...who are you?"
Talla watched the stranger approach. Another mareep? Might it also be from the same flock? She could think of no other source for these lambs showing up.
Kyaru's face showed through the rain, beaded with water. Maelstrom realised she did not recognise him. "Kyaru! It's me."
"Who?" Kyaru stepped back, defensive. "How do you know my name, ram?"
"I'm Maelstrom! I evolved."
"Maelstrom?" Kyaru looked the ramling up and down. He had grown quite a bit and change hues, to the colour of cherry blossom pink. Four black stripes still adorned his tail. And his eyes were still crimson-black. "How did you live?"
"By evolving." Maelstrom didn't tell her the part about getting stuck. But he got to all fours and gave her a nuzzle. "It's good to see you."
"I came to find you. I'm not going back to that flock unless...you want to come too?"
"No. I have a mission. I'm going to avenge Shiri."
"So this is why you won't return," Tallaluna cut in. "Revenge can be a noble but destructive motive. I hope you realise this. Did the toruku kill her?"
"No, I wouldn't be looking for revenge on a twister." Did she think he was stupid?
"Cirrus got kicked out of the flock," said Kyaru. "Just thought you should know."
"Good."
"But you can't kill him! You're no match for him."
Maelstrom looked at Tallaluna. "I will be."
"I will not train you in the art of the -skiku- for the sake of revenge." Tallaluna spoke flatly. "Not at your age."
"The what?" said Kyaru. "Who are you?"
"Tallaluna's the name. Tallaluna of the fallen flock of Tuntun Ridge and member of the eyoraië, the warrior ewes. And the -skiku- is the weapon at my back."
Warrior ewes? That intrigued her more than she wanted to admit to herself. Kyaru peered around Tallaluna to get a look. "Sheep don't use weapons. Marowaks use weapons."
"Only certain rare sheep use weapons, eyomaru," said Tallaluna, "those with the talent and skill to use them. I am only still learning myself. You need not learn of these things yet at your age. I will be bringing you both back around the mountain towards your flock, as it is probably too dangerous to go back the way we came because of the risk of mudslides in this weather. I will return you both to where you belong."
"That flock's not where I belong till I have justice," said Maelstrom. Talla could return neither of them if neither of them would go.
"We will talk about this some more when we get there," said the two year old ewe. "In the meantime think of how your mothers must feel with you both gone."
Maelstrom tried not to let guilt saddle him. He picked his way along the rocky path, listening to the rain slap the rocks, and sheeting down to the drum of distant thunder.
- - -
The rain fell heavily on. Maelstrom kept his eyes on his hooves and didn't say anything. Time had passed on and still they all trudged on tirelessly. Tallaluna didn't seem slowed by the hiking at all, but she was probably used to constant travel. Maelstrom was not, at least not at the pace they were keeping. But he would not admit that he was having any trouble keeping up.
Tallaluna looked back to see how the lambs were doing. They had both slowed down, and she had slowed her own pace accordingly, but neither one of them was a complainer. "Are you doing all right?"
"Yeah," Maelstrom answered and Kyaru blinked her lights in agreement. Maelstrom could even hear though that a bit of weariness was in his voice. He wanted to eat, but there was little plant life in the rocky terrain they were crossing.
Talla flashed her lights twice and climbed up onto a ledge, signalling to the two lambs to follow her. They all enjoyed a brief lunch on the shelf of grass that she had found. "Not long now and we should reach more meadow. We'll be safer from mudslides there." The heavy rain had continued all day without ceasing; the danger was growing more and more real. With her longer life and memory than two lambs could have, she was probably more afraid of the danger than they were. The trouble was that neither lamb could press on like this for much longer. They would have to slow down further if not stop again before they cleared the cliffs.
"Should we rest here?" she put it to the two lambs. "How do you feel about continuing on or resting?"
"I'll rest if everyone else feels like resting," said Kyaru proudly, though she also sounded short of wind. "A strong ram like me shouldn't need much of a stop though."
"A strong -what-?" Talla's ears flicked back in surprise at what the eweling had just said. "Did you just say you're a ram, eyomaru?"
"That's right, and don't you forget it," said Kyaru, pawing a hoof in annoyance. Here it went again...having to explain to yet another sheep about her true gender.
"I may be few in seasons but I know a ram from a ewe and you're quite the ewe."
Maelstrom opened his mouth to speak, but closed it. He couldn't think of anything that would soften the argument to come.
"I am NOT a ewe! Maybe I LOOK like a ewe, maybe I SMELL like a ewe...but I'm NOT one, okay? I should know my sex better than anyone else, shouldn't I? So if I say I'm a ram, what's not to believe?"
"Plenty." Talla tried to think of how to handle this. "Whatever made you ashamed to be a ewe?"
Kyaru glared at Talla with a mix of incredulity, horror and confusion. Then she sprinted off down the rocks.
"You should've just humoured her! That's what I did." Maelstrom started scrambling and jumping down from rock to rock after the mareep. "Kyaru!"
The rain was fizzling down again, making it easier for Maelstrom to see the eweling down ahead of him. "Kyaru wait!" They had to stay together! She was his last friend, what if something happened to her down there?
A blur of yellow and white, streaked with reddish light overtook him. Talla leaped through the air over both Maelstrom and the rock he was climbing down. She landed expertly ahead of Kyaru's path and stood blocking her way.
"I said nothing to upset you! I only wanted to learn--"
"You leave me alone! You don't even believe me when I tell you what I am!" Kyaru made a dash for the rock past Tallaluna, but the ewe easily blocked her path. "Let me go!"
Kyaru dashed past her towards a huddle of spruce trees, seeking their shelter. Talla raced towards her, Maelstrom clambering down last, desperate to follow.
"Stop!" Talla's dainty nostrils flared, and she steered Kyaru back away from the bushes. Kyaru struggled but was dragged away by the stronger ewe. "Danger! I smell danger. A Persian!"
She looked back at Maelstrom. "Don't come forward."
Maelstrom started forward anyway, not ready to let his friends face danger alone. Kyaru was -his- friend, after all, and it was Talla who had caused her to run down here anyway.
Talla shoved Kyaru back towards Maelstrom. "Whatever you do, don't go away." Her ears laid back and she faced the bushes again. "There's nowhere to run...far anyway...I hope there's only one of them..." She shuddered, and as she did, none other than the sandy shape of a Persian slunk from the trees. It stepped into the drizzle, its paws climbing over the rigid rocks.
Next to Maelstrom, Kyaru shivered. But no--it had not been her fault! Talla had had to argue with her and cause her to get upset! If not for her resisting the fact of her being a ram, they would still all be safe up there!
"Enemy!" Talla spoke to the Persian, as sparks gathered on her flippers. She stood between him and the two lambs, ready to strike if he made a move. "I suggest you go back into the trees whence you came. Better protection from the weather in there, no doubt."
"But why, when a lamb came bounding right into my little shelter?" said the animal in a purring tease. His tailtip twitched from side to side. "An easy catch, no doubt."
Tallaluna's heart beat faster. He was going to try to dash past her and onto the lambs. She faced the Persian, which was of the larger mountain variety and had small brown markings on its face and jewel. "Stay back you two. Back up." She braced herself for a fight. Her skills against enemies would come into use much sooner than she had expected. Whatever she did, he mustn't get past her. And knowing a Persian's reflexes he easily could.
Kyaru didn't hesitate. She looked around her, wondering where on these rocks they could run. With a scared bleat, she ran off and started scrambling over the rock behind them. -Hooves don't fail me now.-
Maelstrom turned to follow her, trying to use his flippers to grasp a hold on the stone, but it was difficult to do, plus there weren't that many holds. He scrambled up after her, figuring that it didn't matter if she screamed. The Persian knew they were there. The flock always said to avoid anything with claws that was bigger than a mareep...
"You two stay together!" cried the ampharos as they darted off. The Persian drew nearer.
Maelstrom stopped his running and climbing to watch the fight. What if Talla came off worst? He wouldn't just let her die...it wasn't her fault.
Kyaru stayed with him, more afraid of being left alone, knowing she as the smallest and least-evolved of them she would be the Persian's target if he got past Talla. And deep down, she knew this was her fault.
The Persian put out a clawed paw and prepared to pounce. Talla swerved, leaped and in one fluid motion, threw a thunderwave attack at the animal. As her hoofed feet met the rock again, the bolt arced from her flipper.
The Persian dodged, but the bolt's fingers grazed him. Talla could tell he was fighting partial paralysis. But the attack had not had the intended effect.
Her insides were gripping her with fear. She had never fought a Persian one-on-one. The Persian lashed out, raking her flank. Tallaluna cried out and leaped, twisting so that her sparking tail swung out at him. It knocked the Persian backwards, a direct blow to his head. He landed on his side on the sharp rockbeds. Her wound was bleeding and he was already on his feet again.
The Persian pounced fully onto Tallaluna, who took the hit directly in the front. She felt his claws puncture her flesh, but the cat was going directly for her slender neck. Talla brought up her feet as she electrified her skin.
Her feet kicked and threw him off her, into the air and down the rocks. The cat regained his grip and came leaping at her again. Talla's attack had failed to paralyze.
"We need to help her!" Maelstrom wondered if he would still be stuck in those rocks now if not for her. Did he owe her his life? Why wasn't she using that weapon at her back? Maybe it was like she said, she didn't know how to use it very well yet.
"How? I think the best way to help is let her fight." Kyaru was impressed and terrified all at once. Talla was holding her own against a powerful Pokemon, but if she lost, the Persian would kill one of them. She was sure of it.
The Persian was going to snap her neck if she didn't dodge. Talla dived to the right, her heart pulsing with uncanny terror. She threw another bolt as he slashed at her already shredded flank. The bolt hit, and Talla coupled it with a kick. He was caught off guard and partly paralyzed. He fell to the rocks below, knocking his head against a sharp edge. His head cracked open like an egg.
Tallaluna stood panting on the ledge above, and turned her head away from the sight. She breathed hard and concentrated on her injured body.
Maelstrom came forward and looked down the rocks at the bloody mess that had been the Persian. For a moment he was mesmerized by the gory, still-throbbing mess. He looked to Talla as she walked away past him, the rain washing the blood down her body. "How are you?"
"Fine." Talla gritted her teeth and looked at the blood pouring down her side. "I'm fine."
"You're brave," said Kyaru, her voice very small. "Thank--thank you."
"I do what I must. Better me getting injured than someone else getting killed. We better get going."
"What about your wounds?" Maelstrom noticed they were bleeding pretty badly. "They look pretty deep."
"I need some berries is all. And there may be some right here." Talla stepped into the tree shelter that the Persian had emerged from and found not berries, but a broad-leaved plant. She picked some of the leaves and pressed them onto the claw wounds. The blood soaked through them, so she repeated. She gritted her teeth.
Maelstrom helpd pick some leaves for her to use, but Tallaluna would not let him help keep them pressed to the wounds.
"Why didn't you use your...skih...whatsitcalled..."
"-Skiku?- Because I have not yet gained the reflexes or skill to use it properly. Had I tried to draw it the cat would have seen be off guard and taken advantage of that. Persians are much, much faster than we are."
After a short while, with a blood-smeared pile of leaves next to her, Talla had managed to stop most of the bleeding. It would bleed again if she did anything strenuous, but at least they could continue now. It still hurt, but she was not about to show the lambs she was in pain. They needed to see a strong ewe. Right now she was all they had. "Let's go before the storm gets worse again."
Maelstrom was walking through an area he had never been before. This was a place that his flock avoided. He knew why, too--it was said that the entrance to Bangaa's underground chamber lay somewhere around here. He thought of mentioning it to the ewes, but decided not to. They didn't need one more thing scaring them, plus, they might think he had brought it up because -he- was afraid.
The storm worsened again. Maelstrom could barely see ahead of him. His hoofed foot dislodged a rock. He almost fell down but he managed to lean onto his other foot, which was on solid stone. The rock crashed down and rolled several times before getting stuck in a gnarled bush.
The rumbling sound slowly separated itself from the pounding of the rain and the growl of thunder. Maelstrom stopped and looked up, for it came from somewhere above them.
"What's that sound?" said Kyaru just ahead of him, as Maelstrom looked up and saw ground and debris moving down towards them.
Tallaluna's ears perked. Mudslide. "Mudslide!" She turned to the lambs. "Find somewhere out of its path! Come--Follow me!"
Maelstrom didn't see how they were going to outrun this thing. It was rapidly hurtling towards them, barging down the mountainside overtaking bushes, grass, rocks, a sweep of earth avalanching down right towards them. He scrambled but lost his footing and slid down a couple of ampharos-lengths, catching himself with his feet and flippers. He gripped mud and rocks. The mudslide was almost upon him.
As he tried to climb back up, he saw a recess in the mountainside and ran in. Behind him rocks, bushes and most of all muddy water splashed down onto the path. Maelstrom backed away from the dirty waterfall, panting.
- - -
"Maelstrom!" Kyaru screamed as Talla pulled her into an alcove. "We got to go get him!"
"We can't!" Talla covered Kyaru with her flippers as the mud rushed past them, splattering them, but doing no harm. She had a feeling that the ramling would be all right. He was a resourceful one, not to mention he had a lucky streak a mile wide.
- - -
Maelstrom was still backing away from the pouring mud, staring at the avalanche that had nearly killed him. What did it take to have a day where he wasn't in grave danger? Well, mudslides were comming here...it was another reason why the sheep avoided it. And persians loved to prey on helpless lambs. By heading out here away from the flock, they had been asking for it.
-Maelstrom.-
Maelstrom turned around at the voice that had spoken without wind. He didn't know if it had called from outside or inside his head. All he knew was that he wasn't alone inside this cave. For that was what it was. He brightened the cool light on his tail, and it cast his shadow like a monster's out ahead of him into the maw of a deep tunnel.
"Who's there?" And how did they know his name?
-I know your name because we are connected. By coming down here you have reached out to me, and I have reached out to you. Don't be afraid...we can help each other. We can flock together.-
Maelstrom was not about to trust shadowy voices in dark caves. "Are you Bangaa?"
-Far from it. You might call me an enemy of Bangaa. I am older than your eyomah...older than the lights of the ancient ones who first shone the way in the jungles in the far west...older than the great gyarados Ness...the oldest of things in this world were not even dreamed of when I existed.-
"Who are you?"
-My name is of no concern to you. What might be, though, is your situation. You were brought here for a reason. Whether or not you admit it, you know it. You have a mission, and from here, that mission can either be forgotten like a lambish dream or it can be realised.-
"What are you talking about?"
-You know what I am talking about. Your friend was murdered--and even now, those who murdered her hold no regrets for what they did. They walk and shine on in the daylight...while she drifts aimless in the spirit world..condemned to a restless afterlife...all because she has not been avenged. You know that is your mission.-
"It's none of your business." Maelstrom growled at the dark mouth of the tunnel.
-Then from here we part ways, and you will not succeed in avenging her. I guarantee it. You are a lamb, and have no power against those who ended her life.-
Maelstrom started to turn away, but instead stood to face the darkness again. "Did you cause the landslide?"
-What I caused or did not cause is irrelevant. The point is, you arrived here because you have something I need and I have something you need. Because you have a mission that can only be realised if you accept my help.-
"I'm not going to accept anything from someone I don't know. I don't even know who you are, what you are..."
-Very well. Abandon your mission...and hear her cries of despair.-
Maelstrom remembered Shiri. The day she had first met him, prancing around him; their playing pretend in the grass past the bushes; meeting Kyaru, and their finding the stone. Shiri dancing with him in the rock recess by night, by their lights and by the light of the stone. Shiri singing with him, rolling with him...Her giggles came back to him. And in the darkness of the cave her eyes seemed to stare back at him.
"How could you help me?"
-I have powers that you could never imagine. Let me out and I will fulfill your mission. You give me my freedom, I bring death to the one who killed your friend.-
"How could I let you out? And how can I trust you?"
-You yourself know that you have no point in going on unless you can fulfill your mission. If I fail then you would be no worse off. But I give you my word. If you give me yours.-
Maelstrom stood listening to the rain outside. The mud still poured past the opening of the cavern. The choice seemed to take on material substance in the large space above his head.