I'm back guys, and with a new chapter. Now before I get started I want to address a review I got on my last chapter.

I understand why you are upset at the lack of content for such large intervals in time and I understand you wanting more. But I would like to say that this story is just a hobby of mine I do every now and then when I want to write. Furthermore I have never been into writing. This is the first story I have ever attempted and I am taking it slow so that I don't mess up too royally. I also am limited by my sister's scheduled, she is who I go to to review these chapters before I publish them. So sorry that these chapters are short but they are the best I can do.

And now to the story.

Chapter 6

The thoughts

The light of the setting sun shone through the passage of snow, like tongues of flame. Ann had barely moved since the story had concluded, her face was a picture of wonder and confusion. Raven sat a little apart trying to breathe life back into his sore paw. Saul was licking the blood from his fur, his hunger satisfied for a while. Dagan crouched alone by the last of the Pidgey, eating what was left. The silence of the group was almost suffocating, like a heavy fog it floated through the cave. At length Saul coughed, the spell was broken, and everyone stirred from their thoughts. "I'm coming to help find your dad." Ann's statement came as a shock to Raven, though he couldn't complain about it.

"Are you sure?" Raven wrote before going back to massaging his paw.

"Yes. I was running from the army anyway. Might as well do something while I'm at it," she said with all seriousness.

Raven looked to his cohorts to find their opinions on the matter. Saul merely shrugged. "So long as she doesn't get in our way." Raven shook his head at the begrudging nature of the Eevee and fixed his gaze on Dagan.

"... We could use the help. We're not about to fight soldiers ourselves." His reply, like always, was logical No hint of sarcasm was hidden in its depths.

Raven turned back to Ann, with a nod and a smile, answering her hidden question of whether they would allow her. "Thank you." Her smile showed her semi white teeth and her eyes were like pools of compassion, "When do we leave?"

"Soon" Raven scratched into the floor to save paper.

"Raven? Aren't you forgetting her leg? She can't go far on that." Dagan said, pointing to the leg with his tail. "The bone is jutting out for crying out loud!"

"Right, forgot about that…" Raven's voice trailed off as he tried to figure a solution.

"You could learn how to fight and hunt while we wait." Saul said from across the room.

Dagan stared at his brother with slight awe. "That is the first bit of actual advice you have given this entire time."

"Don't act so surprised. I can be smart, You just haven't noticed before." He replied.

"Conceited as usual." Raven commented to himself. Then, with a reluctant sigh, he spoke out loud. "I suppose I could use the training if I'm going to be stuck like this."

"Good we'll start tomorrow then," Saul said.

Begrudgingly, Raven agreed to the next day training session.

The next day started too early for Raven's tastes, he had barely woken up when Saul had dragged him outside for the training. He was groggy, irritable, and just plain not in a good mood. "What's the big idea of making me train this early in the morning?" Raven asked with undisguised hatred.

"You're a rookie. You need all the training you can get. Now stop complaining and show me what you can do." Saul replied.

Raven was slow. He tried his hand at a scratch attack but Saul simply sidestepped it. "Is that the best you can do?" He taunted. Raven tried once again but Saul countered it with a quick attack. Raven fell back; he was so weak he couldn't believe it. Saul, seeing an opportunity, hit Raven with another attack.

Raven skidded a few feet. "Why can't I fight?" He asked himself. He turned his gaze back on Saul, He felt angry with himself and with Saul. His mind thought up all the bad things he could do to him as the Eevee came around for another attack. His dark thoughts and emotions kept on swirling in his mind as he raised his claw to defend himself. But the blow never fell, instead Saul was sent flying by a strange pulsing black energy.

"You know Dark Pulse?" Saul exclaimed from his landing point.

"Is that what I used?" Raven asked as all his dark thoughts faded. He extended his hand again but unlike before the attack did not manifest. "Why doesn't it work now?"

"I don't know," Saul replied as he shook the snow from his pelt. "Ask Dagan,"

Raven looked about him, Dagan wasn't in sight. "Where is he?"

"How should I know?" Saul snapped. "Probably out hunting,"

Raven rolled his eyes and went out to find Dagan. At the entrance to the cave he picked up the tracks of his friend and began to follow them. His search lead up the mountain, after a little bit he began to worry because the tracks were fading in the snow. "Dagan? Where are you?" He called.

"Shh!" Came the reply from ahead. "Raven just stay quiet and get behind something."

Raven dived behind a boulder on his left and peered out. From his vantage point he could just make out Dagan's tail sticking out from behind a bush. It looked like he was intent on something ahead and was stealthily sliding towards it. Raven felt the tension in Dagan's movements and in a second that seemed to hang just a bit too long he sprung. "Okay you can come over now,"

Raven came out of his hiding place; Dagan was standing over the body of a murkrow that had been out of its nest too long. "Nice catch," he commented.

"Thanks, though I doubt you followed me up here to watch me hunt," Dagan replied as he laid down, curling his tail under him. "So what is it?"

"I want something explained so I can use it again," Raven sat next to Dagan and relayed the story of his dark pulse attack. "So what I want to know is how to trigger the energy."

Dagan remained silent, his face showed him in deep thought. "Do you have any idea?" Raven asked impatiently.

"No…" Was the reply. "I don't know the move."

"Okay. Thanks anyway," Raven said as he stood and picked up Dagan's fresh kill. His gaze wandered to the heavens and he saw the peak of the mountain. "We will have to cross that…"

"Yup and it will be quite the climb," Dagan added.

Their gaze wandered back down the mountain, they could see far from where they were. The landscape below where the avalanche hit looked pleasant and inviting. "All that open safety… What I would give to live there when this is over," Raven commented half to himself and half to Dagan, though he knew his path was set for finding his father.

"Maybe you will one day," Dagan replied.

"I hope so. It'll be good to stay in a calm place,"

Dagan looked at his friend. "We should get down to the cave now," He said.

Raven shook the thoughts of his past life from his mind. "I guess you're right." And with the fresh kill carried by Raven they set off down the winding mountain way.