Chapter 32
She shook her head with a wry smile, "No, I am not." The lady replied. Sara got a good look at her from her position; she was wearing a light blue tank top with gentle etchings of moth wings on it and a black skirt that matched her high black boots.
A Scyther clashed his scythes together as he entered the room with a loud cry. Sara flinched very visibly, the exclamation had reminded her head of how it had felt just a little while ago, and it continued to throb like that. She failed to see the furry white bundle he was carrying over to the lady by her bed and with a groan, Sara blacked out…
Elvina waved the paper she'd found in place of the missing Pokemon. "Uhhhh…" She bit her lip, "Guys, I think this is important."
The mangled piece of paper was snatched by Devon, who read it and nearly fell over laughing, "What is this Elvina?" He exclaimed.
"Let me see that…" Pocky snatched it away from the boy and scanned it. She snorted and the corner of her mouth curled up in a half-smile, "Sandsinger." She said simply and read the note aloud, "'Deer trainors, the broccoli ish en Cantoo, we go get. Wif luff.' And then she put a music note and a couple of dots around it, a star and a plus sign with a bird afterwards, a carrot, a Trapinch, two wings floating in mid-air, four fuzzy… things, and a large feather. She's very original…"
"Tisk." The Houndoom that was sitting close to Elvina's feet cleared his throat and growled, "You call that original? My dear, originality is painting a 3D picture of them leaving. But pictograms? Those were out of date in my time."
"WAIT a second! They went to Kanto? Alone?" Rena exclaimed, biting her lip, "But Squee…"
"And Meep." Rika added, smirking in that mysterious way that seemed to get on Elvina's last nerves, "They went together. And so did Karen, with Huan tagging along. You never know about those two…"
"But Huan… how could he leave without…" Elvina looked down and said no more, just silently thought to herself.
"He'll be back." Rika said, smirking, "They all will. Or at least they should be."
"You're not making me feel very secure, psychic."
"Are you sure they got your note, Sandsinger?" Saladreth asked calmly as they headed the way of Kanto. (Or at least that's the way Sandsinger said Kanto was, so they followed her.)
"Of course! I put it where they could never miss it!" She exclaimed in reply happily.
"Oh no, where did you put it?"
The Flygon buzzed impatiently at Star's pointed question, and said, "In the stadium… fourth row up, seat sixty-six 'f'. They won't miss it."
Squee and Meep giggled from atop their less hyper than normal playing on Saladreth's back, whether it was about Sandsinger or their own game, none of the other Pokemon knew. Karen and Huan also sat on the dragon's back, further down. It was Gryff that finally broke the silence, "Why in the world would that be easy to find?"
"Because," Sandsinger rolled her eyes, as if she didn't understand why Gryff dared not to know this. "Devon was sitting in that seat when the shiny birdie attacked and Sara flew off on me…"
"I don't get it."
"Sandsinger's got a photographic memory!" Squee squealed, "She knows Cookie's shoe size!"
Star snorted at the conversation, "You know what? I think there's a good chance that that letter will never be found, Sandsinger. Now we're probably never going to be found or-"
"Hey look!" Mellow interrupted, pointing a talon at a figure just ahead of them. Underneath the traveling Pokemon, the desert had already came and gone, they were now flying the way of a sooty area where the sky was thick with the dark stuff. It took Sandsinger a moment to recognize the figure for who he was.
Tarragon awaited them with claws poised to strike, but lowered them at the sight of Sandsinger, with a murmured, "Little Flygon." He had a small smile on his face as he flew over to greet the group of Pokemon.
"It's another Sandsinger!"
"No Meep, this is Tarragon." Mellow replied, "He's like her. I think that they're-"
"TARRAGON!" The female Flygon drowned out the last word he was saying as she tackled the said Pokemon.
He grunted and pushed her away quickly, rubbing the side that she'd hit, "I feel like I'm falling apart, little Sandsinger. But it's still nice to see you."
"Let me guess." Saladreth said as he looked from Flygon to Flygon, "He's coming with us, isn't he?"
"You guessed it. Hey Tarragon…"
"I thought that Star hated Mellow." Huan said to Karen as they watched the two Swellow sit together on a nearby tree, sharing a large berry, being beak to beak.
"You're just not romantic." Karen replied, "There are some things you gotta look at in a different way sometimes, Huan."
The traveling Pokemon had stopped for the night close to a Pokemon Center, but not quite had the backbone to go into it. For one, Tarragon wouldn't have anything to do with the 'human' facility. He had, of course, agreed to come with him, as he had nothing else to do.
Sandsinger was the only one puzzled by his decision to come, but she didn't say what was on her mind. Instead, she was curled up next to him, feinting sleep. Meep and Squee were exercising their legs after the 'long' ride on the back of Saladreth.
Only the break of a twig gave away that there was something in the trees, perhaps watching them. Mostly it was ignored by the dulled senses of the travelers, but Huan had heard it, and he was the one who padded over to investigate what it was.
"'Ello?" The Eevee poked his nose close to the underbrush and had to scramble to avoid being slashed in two by the creature cowering there.
In a low, barely defined voice, it murmured, "Go away." When Huan made no motion to move, the order was repeated. Still nothing happened.
They stood there for a long while, Huan contemplating his navel after a while, and the creature just staring with blank eyes. Finally, it whimpered in its pathetically tiny voice, "What do you want with me?" And it stepped out of the brush and into a beam of moonlight.
It was then that Huan gasped and shuddered a pace back.
"Is she awake yet?"
"No, be quiet."
Two sets of eyes stared down on the unconscious form of Sara, both oozing with impatience. The woman with red hair continued to her counterpart, "The Master said we should allow her to sleep."
"Too much sleep…" He replied. "I want to wake her up…"
"So do I, Arthur, so do I." She shook her head and gazed down at the small form of the man, who was only two-thirds her size. "But what of the Vulpix? Is she still comatose?"
"Yup. I was about to report that until you snagged me and Tasgan." He jerked a thumb at the bald man who was asleep over by the fire with his Farfetch'd sitting on top of him. His head was decorated with two different bands of tattoos, one being a ribbon band circling around the other, which was decorated with bird shapes. Tasgan was wearing a bright yellow and orange shirt and kilt, both in swirling patterns with edges like feathers that jutted out.
"Master will not be pleased that she has no useful Pokemon. He likes amusement."
The short, speckled man named Arthur coughed politely and pointed downwards, towards Sara, who was finally twitching awake. "Hey… it's the angel…" She giggled feebly, "Are you sure this isn't heaven?"
"Positive, my dear." The woman replied, pushing Arthur away with a murmured command. He sighed, and did as she bided, going to get pillows to prop up 'Lady' Sara's head. "How are you feeling?"
"Like… a Tauros herd trampled me."
"Well, you're going to have to get up eventually. There's work to be done, my dear."
"W-what are you?" After getting over his initial shock, Huan regained his poise and growled at the ragged figure of the Persian that had been hiding from sight, until now. Her fur was crumpled and clawed, matted in areas and totally missing in others. Claw marks defined her flanks and came up in one last, horrible slash across one shoulder. She looked like she'd gotten into a fight with a set of knives and lost badly.
"You see?" She whispered, "This is what always happens when I show my face. Go on. Shoo me away. You know you want to."
"What happened to you, at least?" Huan ignored what the Persian had said first and inserted what he thought was a reasonable question. But the cat Pokemon thought otherwise, her remaining fur around the old claw scars ruffled up, and she bared her few remaining teeth in a hiss.
The hiss was what got the attention of Gryff and Karen. They went to where it was and stopped behind Huan. "Just go away!" Wailed the Persian as she watched the forces of the side against her double up.
She stepped backwards as the Eevee stepped forward, the limp in her front leg quite obvious. "I don't want to hurt you." He said quietly, "Come with me, perhaps we can get you to the Pokemon Center."
"NO! I WILL NOT GO BACK TO THE HUMANS!" The words echoed and attention from all the Pokemon around, a pair of sleepy-eyed Swablu murmured angrily to themselves, a Seviper and a Zangoose found each other in the dark and began to battle it out, and all of this was completely ignored by the Persian as she turned around and darted blindly, wanting to get anywhere but be around Huan.
She found shelter under Saladreth's belly and cowered there.
It took Huan a bit to recover from the shock of being screamed at, and the meaning of the words that the Persian had said to sink in. "That's one messed up Persian." Gryff commented, looking the direction in which the Persian had gone and not quite could see that far in the darkness.
"We should handle her differently." Karen sniffed as she pranced away towards Saladreth.
"Coming, Gryff?" Huan asked over his shoulder as he followed her, who dejectedly walked after him.
"We'd better be sleeping in tomorrow…"
Dawn had broken when the Persian finally decided to talk to them again. Saladreth was personally glad; he was getting cramps staying in the same position all night. As he stretched, the Persian murmured a semi-silent apology.
"Yelling is foolish, I should not have done it." She said in quiet tones, "Sorry."
They talked for a bit, the Persian keeping her quietness. None of them mentioned humans or trainers after that outburst. "So… what's your name?" Karen asked.
Quietly, the cat's paws scuffled nervously, but she replied, "Raggedshadow."
"And Raggedshadow," Murmured Tarragon, knowing he'd step on a few paws and talons with the question he was asking. "Did the human that attacked you have a Pokemon about my height named an Oxren?"
"Hey Mothy, do you know what happened to my Vulpix?" Sara asked the red-haired lady after she'd had yet another rest. She was feeling better, and was worried about what was beyond herself now.
The people she'd met, Mothy and a short guy named Arthur along with a strange man, Tasgan, had been really friendly towards her. They'd even given her a new set of clothes to change in, as her regular dressings were back with Elvina. She was whistling gently in a pair of stonewashed jeans and a purple shirt embroidered with little birds, along with violet flip-flops with the same bird design.
Mothy grimaced, this was just the question that she'd been dreading that the blonde girl would ask. "I think this is enough sun, want to go in?" She asked, desperate for a new subject. A gentle caw near her ear announced the arrival of Tasgan's Farfetch'd. The Pokemon bore a letter that she scanned quickly and a look of dread appeared on her face because of it.
The note had said what she dreaded most about the girl's Vulpix. But that wasn't important now; Sara was the only important one. "You changed the subject." Sara accused, "Mothy! Where is my Vulpix?"
"Y-you don't want to see her now, do you? There's so many different Pokemon to see… hey look, a Chikpea!" Mothy grabbed the green, chicken-like Pokemon and shoved him into Sara's hands.
"CHIKPEA!" He exclaimed, clucking happily.
The blonde girl glowered over the cover of green feathers. "Althea. Now."
Mothy saw she was fighting a losing battle, and sighed dramatically, "Alright, follow me…" She turned on her heel and headed back inside from the patio that they were standing on. Sara followed slowly, as to not upset her sensitive head, and followed Mothy as she lead her through the big mansion that she'd been in.
The Chikpea looked around with interest as they passed giant statues of Pokemon like Farfetch'd and Saladreth, walked on rugs decorated with tiny figures of animals of all shapes and sizes, and finally looked into a huge mirror that was carved in the shape of a Scyther. Mothy smiled at the dumbfounded looks on both Chikpea and Sara as she stepped up to the mirror where its 'legs' touched the floor and knocked twice on it.
There was a click, and then a sizable block of it swung back like a door. "Almost there." Mothy said over her shoulder as she walked into the darkness behind the mirror.
"Cool…" Sara murmured to herself and the Chikpea as she followed. He clucked agreement to the statement and continued to look around at the stone walls with interest.
The stairs led down and cut off at a slab of stone with the markings of yet another Scyther on it. Mothy tapped at the right scythe of the carving in a rapid style and it slid to the side, revealing another set of stairs and a plain door. "Lady Sara would like to see her Vulpix." Mothy murmured into the small, hardly seeable hole in the door and the person on the other side, Tasgan, let them in.
Sara barely saw Tasgan's look of sadness and regret, barely heard the gentle clucking of the Chikpea or Mothy's murmured, "I'm sorry." Her senses were filled to the brim at the sight of her Vulpix lying under a blanket, shuddering as if she were cold. But what was shocking was the appearance of the Vulpix, her fur was snow white, and eyes stained red.
"Althea!" The girl exclaimed, tossing the Chikpea over her shoulder as she ran to the Vulpix's side. A gentle bark escaped Althea's mouth, and she seemed to smile crookedly.
"Sara…" She murmured comatosely, "I knew you would come…"
"What did you do to her?" Sara demanded of the two people just looking down at her. "What did you do to my Vulpix?"
"She was like that…" Tasgan said, "When we pried open her Pokeball, she was like that. We don't know what happened to her."
They were then silent, Sara quietly hugging Althea to her belly, silently wondering what the Vulpix had done to deserve this. But after a while, the door was opened for another person who Sara didn't recognize. Mothy and Tasgan both bowed to him though, and stayed on their knees as he bent down to look at Sara more closely.
His skin was pale, and he had a face like a skull, with sunk-in cheeks and dirty brown brows. With a voice that cracked, he stated, "Hello, Sara. I've been really looking forward to meeting you."
Sara and Althea both looked up at him in puzzlement. Neither of which understood why this man was being bowed to, or why the Chikpea had magnetically come to sit on Sara's shoulder, but they could see he was of some importance. "Uhhhh… hi. It's a pleasure to meet you, but right now there are more important things on my mind, and I'm sorry for that." She replied.
"I see. Your Vulpix. A pity, she has such a beautiful coat…"
He stood up strait and looked down his nose at Sara. She got a good look at his black jeans and green shirt before he began to back up to leave, "My name is Windrider, by the way, if you were wondering." The man said and nodded to Tasgan as he backed up past the doorway. The door shut just as Windrider was turning around, and Sara got just a glimpse of white and green on his back before it shut completely.
Sara took her Vulpix back to her room that night and fell into a restless sleep. Neither of them had noticed that the Chikpea had trudged along, until he settled down on her pillow just before the lights went out. Sara had glared at him as she put her head down on it, and grumbled, "Don't snore."
In the morning she was woken to the sound of a rooster cawing. "I didn't know Chikpea could make that kind of noise…" Sara muttered as she glared down at the rooster-impersonating Chikpea.
"You don't expect a male Chikpea to act like a chicken, do ya?" Althea joked weakly from her bed-nest.
"Good morning sleeping beauty!" Mothy exclaimed brightly from the doorway. "Windrider wanted to talk to you, he said it was important."
"Tell him to wait, please." She replied, "I just woke up."
Mothy nodded and left Sara to her peace with Althea and the Chikpea. "Okay, so which one of you are coming."
"We both are." Althea growled, "Comatose or not, I'm coming!"
"Chic, chic, CHIKPEA!" Added the male Chikpea enthusiastically.
When Sara was fully dressed, she took the two of them and followed the path they'd taken the first time to where Sara had first met Windrider. At the base of the Scyther mirror, they met up with a smirking Mothy, who took them the way to where Althea was, and escorted Sara and the two Pokemon she was holding up the second flight of stairs.
They emerged on a giant gray granite slab that was worn from the elements. Windrider was standing on the far side of it, under what took their breath away.
He was standing under a realistic marble carved Scyther that was colored to match a real one; it looked like a giant version of the Pokemon. It had its head looking downwards and eyes closed, with its two scythes crossing across its chest. "Welcome, Sara." Said Windrider as he gave the base of the statue a loving pat. "Welcome to the place that only my most honored of guests gets to visit. You see, this is no ordinary Scyther statue; it's one that enjoys watching a good fight. Welcome, my dear, to the Shrine of Flying."