Chapter 5

Silence reigned throughout Mountain Clan as all eyes were focused on nine forms standing in the middle of the bottom of the cave. Six Absol, including Dracoheart, Lightwind, and Dewfire, all the Elemental Elders except for one, who was absent at the time. They stood in a loose circle around Kashen and Ember, the latter of which was sitting down and wheezing slowly from her case of flame sickness.

"Hear me, hear me!" Screeched Dewfire, silencing the din of mingled voices in a flash, "We are gathered here today to welcome two new members into our clan, something that hasn't happened since… a long time ago! May I introduce you all to Kashen-the dark one." The Umbreon bowed his head and stepped forward until he'd left the circle the Elders had made. He and Ember had been schooled on how to participate in the ceremony properly…

The tip of Lightwind's horn began to spark, and she shot a bolt of electricity to the sky, where it turned into a harmless buzzat upon the cave's rocky roof. The male Absol next to her followed suit, this time with a flash of a white beam that became ice upon contact with the ceiling. Dewfire, then the two Absol next to him, and finally Dracoheart acted after, creating a seared black patch on the roof that dripped dirty gray water.

"It is done." The female next to Dewfire croaked, and simultaneously the watching clan burst back to life. The clatter of sound was mixed with some Absol trying out Kashen's name on their tongue, some congratulations, but mostly it was only cheering noise that made little sense.

Kashen looked over his shoulder and grinned at Ember. He tossed his head, as if saying 'your turn next.' The Vulpix blinked back at him and yipped her hoarse offering to the clatter.

The Elemental Elders waited a few minutes before silencing the crowd again. As Kashen and Ember were trading places, the ceremony started again. "And now, I'd like to introduce you to Ember-the-" Dewfire was cut off when a single voice screeched through the cave.

"WAIT!"

A single Absol pushed his way through the watching audience and Ember raised her head to glare. "Do you have something to say, Nightwing?" Dewfire asked neutrally.

"I do!" Nightwing was still shouting as he turned to his fellow Absol, "Hear me friends! The fox-creature you see before you was sent here to… kill us all! Do you see her coughing, wheezing? That'll be you next, and then your friends, and finally your entire clan! She is an envoy of our end."

Silence. All eyes turned from Nightwing to Ember, unsure if he was saying the truth, or if the Vulpix wasn't trying to get them all sick.

"If I may interject." Kashen shouldered forward, casting Ember a fierce warning look, "But if she's an envoy of Mountain Clan's end, then why didn't she come already sick?"

"Because she wanted to get into the works here first, make friends, and then get sick!"

"Uh-huh…" The Umbreon was beginning to smirk. "You're reasoning is a little… off."

"Humph, you're in this with her, so you'd probably think something like that." Nightwing growled, and then turned his attention back to the rest of the Absol, "Blair has caught it!"

His look turned into a victorious smile as a couple of gasps or cries rent the air. Blair was, indeed, the last Elemental Elder that was supposed to be in the ceremony. She wasn't one that Kashen or Ember had met, but they'd heard stories of the Elder's deeds, and there were a lot of deeds to hear about. By far, if she caught sick that was the only proof that was powerful enough to get his fellows to believe him.

And slowly, murmurs went through the watching Absol. "But I didn't even-" Cough. "-Go anywhere near this-" Another cough. "-Blair! Your accusations are wrong, Nightwing!" Ember retaliated.

She looked helplessly over at the six other Elders, where one of the ice-wielding Absol finally spoke up, "Well, acting on the word of one would be wrong as the Ember-fox has said. We should see this for ourselves." He addressed the rest of the Elders, who slowly agreed.

Eventually, a count was preformed on all the Mountain Clan members that showed the beginning signs of coming down with something, like minor coughs, sneezes, or sore throats. Some of those were dismissed as being from small colds, but the search uprooted fourteen Absol that were in the beginning stages of flame sickness.

And then they got to Blair, an aged creature with a few scars upon her body, dull eyes, and a listless tail. She was racked with a form of flame sickness, which caused small gusts of fire to puff from her mouth at regular intervals.

With all of information, the Elemental Elders rounded on Ember-and Kashen as well, even though they ignored him for the while-and said, "Is there any cure for this?"

"Yes, in the forest… the juice of the ignasia berry works wonders…"

"Ah… so if we went and got this ignasia berry, then we'd be able to cure this?" Dewfire asked slowly, and Ember nodded. "Well… then… I suppose then if Mountain Clan is cured of this, then we have no reason to think anything of Nightwing's accusations, do we?"

"N-no-"

"Good. It'll teach the cub some manners." Another Elder muttered.

"But in the meantime, we have to take him seriously. Ember-cub, you need to bring us back as many of those berries as possible." Dewfire continued, a serious tone in his voice, "Take Kashen with you. And…" At that point, he hesitated and looked back at the other Absol there. Lightwind nodded encouragement, "…Alright then, we'll also include a few of our hardiest Defenders. The ones that shouldn't catch sick. Yet as of now, Ember, you must wait to become a member of Mountain Clan."

The following morning dawned bright, with a few clouds. Ember was beginning to get over her bout of flame sickness, she was coughing less. Before she, Kashen, and the six Absol that had been ordered to come with them, Ember caught a minute alone with her friend and hissed. "He was waiting until that exact moment, wasn't he?"

"If Nightwing wasn't, it was surely a very good accident." He replied, "At least you still have a little bit of trust from the Elders, you know. They could have taken one look at Blair and killed us on the spot. And they didn't even revoke my membership…"

"Yes, lucky you, you got to keep your membership." The Vulpix rolled her eyes.

"You don't have to be so sour. Prove Nightwing wrong and get it a little bit later. …Besides, we both know you're going to smudge it in his face once you do… Isn't that good enough?" Kashen said, a bit of a hurt tone crossing his voice.

"…Yeah, I suppose." Ember muttered.

"Good, come on Ember, they're waiting for us." The Umbreon nudged her gently and got to his feet, bounding for the exit to the cave with a playful wave of his tail. At first, Ember scowled, until Kashen looked over his shoulder and mewed teasingly. That was enough for her to yip back and run after him.

It turned out that the two of them were in mixed company, from the sour young Maggie, to the chipper and upbeat Din. Then, the other four Absol fit directly in the middle. Wren was the male that was always seen by Maggie's side, glaring at odd intervals at Kashen or Ember. Mist followed Kashen around, her wide eyes filled with awe at the Umbreon. And then there were the twin brothers, Tarrim and Mordecai, which always seemed to have some sort of trick up their sleeve.

It could have been a lot better, but also a whole lot worse. Ember made friends with the bulky Absol, Mordecai, and found herself the target of a few of Tarrim's little tricks.

With this band of six, they made slow progress down the mountain path, having troubles with the large rocks. Kashen had to carry Ember on his back at some parts, as she couldn't make the jumps necessary.

On the second day of their trip, there was a disturbance within the forest itself, which made a small explosion somewhere in there. Ember and Kashen exchanged wide-eyed looks at what looked like a flare of fire shot up into the sky.

"That doesn't look good." Tarrim swallowed.

"It sure doesn't." Kashen murmured, then turning back to the small group, "We'd best be hurrying back."

"Are you sure you want to be doing that?" Pyrone murmured as she watched her sister stalk around the body of the Shelgon. The carapace's dull white color had turned a light yellow in the morning sunlight. Myrone paid her no mind as she stopped at the frontal hole in the shell and peered into it.

"Pyrone," she said instead, not taking her eyes off of the creature, "I want you to blow a flame onto it."

A pause. Then: "That's nuts. It won't do anything to it."

"Please, sister? Just do it."

Pyrone let off an aspirated sigh and opened her mouth. An orange glow formed in the back of her mouth, and the next moment she had shot a ball of fire the size of an Eevee kit at the creature. Her sister had ducked back, away from the attack, but her gaze still rested on where she thought the eyes would be.

The flames hit the Shelgon across the side. Instead of catching, and roasting the creature, they were put out the second they touched the carapace. "See, nothing." Pyrone muttered.

A shudder went through the creature's whole body, and two red slots cut through the darkness in the hole that was at the front. The two eyes burned into Myrone, who hadn't moved from her spot, and the Shelgon shuddered again. The dry earth around it cracked and slowly disintegrated with the shudders that went along with the shelled creature.

Myrone found herself paralyzed where she stood, gazing into the fiery depths of the Shelgon's eyes. She was entranced by it, and didn't seem to notice that the creature was shaking loose of its earthen bonds. "Myrone, Myrone what are you doing!" Her sister exclaimed wildly when she saw the Shelgon rising up, finally bringing one of its small proportioned feet out of the earth and setting it up as the first step towards the Espeon.

A strange mix of feelings just then replaced the emptiness that she felt. Myrone's body was racked with angry vibrations, then the cool, aloof feeling of age and wisdom. The Shelgon freed another of its feet and took another step forward, and as it did so, the rush of emotions grew harsher, more violent even.

Pyrone tried another call, the Flareon slightly bewildered by the set, unblinking gaze of her sister. It finally worked, because her sister shook her head and broke eye contact with the creature.

The Shelgon was almost out by then, its hind feet reaching the edge then. When Myrone looked away, another shudder went through it, and a sound much like a growl. It kept going the direction of the Espeon, and under its two eyes another bright point appeared. She had only a second to avoid the spiraling wave of fire that came from it.

The attack hit a tree instead, and the flames shot up from where they hit, creating a bright flare of fire that rose above the treetops.