A/N- That HAS to be the longest chapter I've ever written, being almost 2k words ^^! If you're enjoying this, please review. I really like positive ones, and ones with CONSTRUCTIVE critisicm are great, too. However, flamers will have dog treats forcibly shoved down their throat. As for canines, MEOW MIX will substitute! MWA HAHA! Wow, I'm evil tonight. Anyways, Jess, Luke, and Marcus probably won't be seen later, same for Kyasha, but it's a huge MAYBE, so I won't make any promises, except that you won't see the pack again. Anyways, please R&R, even if you are anonymous.
Vincent's howl echoed forcefully throughout the large ravine, echoing in Cyndan's ear slits. "DAD!" He yelled, trying to drown out his father's howl and the wind, but as it always happens, his voice wasn't strong enough at his age. "DAD, WHAT'S HAPPENING! I'M SCARED! PLEASE MAKE IT STOP! PLEASE, FATHER!" In the poor child's eyes, the fall seemed to last a lifetime, his memory almost completely filled with what was happening. Even though the long fall lasted only six seconds, it seemed to long to be real in Cyndan's mind, making him think it was just another part of this unending nightmare.
Ripped from his thoughts, and landing on his father's body, which itself landed with a sickening crunch,Cyndan was winded, the fall leaving him in pain on top of the broken body of his father. Not one to give up, he tried to get up, at least raise his head. However, as he did so, pain rocketed through his body, causing a his eyes to tear. Shaking, he admitted defeat, letting a painless black envelop him, thirty feet beneath the ground.
Earlier, a pack of Lucario bounded through the burning forest, using their Aura Sight to see through the blackening smoke. On the outskirts of the pack, a mother held her son's hand, dashing at such a pace that the young Riolu was flying, his feet only occasionally touching the ground. "Whatever you do, Tucker, don't let go!" The female shouted over the crackeling trees and splashing water.
Tucker panted heavily, and his mother ended up dragging the tiny thing along. "Mommy, your hand is too wet, I can't hold on too much longer!" he told her, telepathically communicating, his own voice too regged to speak, and using everything it had to take in needed air, scratchy from the smoke.
"Just hold on, I can see the end of the forest!" She replied, grasping her son's paw tighter. Too absorbed with helping her son to safety, the Lucario failed to notice the ground rumbling under her feet, or the pack changing formation; the only thing that mattered was getting her only son to safety, everything else dulling around her.
She came to her senses as the pack leader, her mate, called the command to jump over the thin canyon forming in their path. With a gasp, the mother managed to jump not even half a second before they fell in, using her powerful legs to push off of the edge. In mid-jump, she collided with some tree branches jutting out from a tree that spanned the gaping rift, but easily managed to break through. However, the branches whipped back as she passed through, whacking her son and causing their paws to be ripped apart. Landing on the other side, she turned around as her son's momentum, even though slowed immensely by the tree branches, hit the wall of the ravine, leaving a small indent in the face of the rock eight feet below her, and fell down to the bottom, a small splash echoing upwards.
"TUCKER!" She desperately called, getting ready to jump down, if only to be with her child.
However, her mate had other ideas, and grasped her arm, agressively saying, "That lazy boy ain't goin' to be any use in the pack, and he probably would nay have, either, so let's get a move on, mah wee lass!"
Crying, the Lucario mother grabbed a necklace from around her neck and tossed it into the ravine, making a prayer to Arceus so Tucker would be able to climb the spirit trail to the Hell of Origin. Unbeknowest to her, the necklace, by some chance, landed directly on her son below.
O.o.o.O.o.o.O
Tucker managed to struggle to his feet, the pain in his young body nearly unbearable. Holding the back of his head, he sat up. Glancing at his body, he saw a necklace draped around his feet, the one his mother always wore. Seeing it was enough to reduce him to tears, all of the events rushing back to him.
As his fingers slipped from his mother's, he bore the brunt of the branches, slowing down and slamming into the far side of the maw. Luckily, his body hit a small deposit of clay, keeping his body safe from any broken bones. The fall down, lasting only a few seconds, must've been about twenty feet, a large fall, but nothing fatal seeing as he was already halfway down when he hit the wall. Bringing his sorrow under control, Tucker managed to stand up, albeit with shaking legs.
Looking around, the child looked to either side, trying to decide to head left or right. The only major difference was that to the right it was downhill, a much easier route, if the small creak meandering through the canyon had any say. Limping off, Tucker slowly traveled through the ravine, desperate for help.
O.o.o.O.o.o.O
Cyndan had to be alive, and dreaming, once again. His body was burning all throughout. Not one inch was spared. Groaning, Cyndan fluttered his eyes open, his eyes adjusting to the brightness. Or at least, they should have, if the Pokemon staring down into his face wasn't blocking the bright blue sky overhead.
"Are...are you awake, Vincent?" Cyndan bolted upright upon hearing those four words, clonking his head against the figure's. "OW!" they simoultaneously shouted. Rubbing his sore head, the Cyndiquil looked at the other Pokemon. Is it just me, or is he that kid who was yelled at by that other one?
Groaning, Cyndan managed a somewhat rude reply. "One, I'm Cyndan, not Vincent, and two, I feel okay, I'm not really in too much pain. Vincent is...was my father..." The young Cyndiquil started to cry a bit.
"Was?"
Sniffing, Cyndan pointed to the mound of fur they were sitting on.
The stranger, a Riolu, fell backwards, startled by the statement. "WHAAAAAAAAAAT! He was...YOUR FATHER! That's...how is that even possible, he looks nothing like you?"
Trying to put up his "shell of tough", as Cyndan called it, he stopped crying and sniffed. "So? He and my Mom loved eachother, and I even have brothers and a sister to prove it, even though they look more like him then my mom. The only way I look like him are these dark stripes on my back," he stated turning and pointing to his back to prove it. Indeed, there were about five stripes of somewhat darker fur, standing out against the pale blue.
"That's nice..." The Riolu was sitting up again, staring right through Cyndan, unnerving him.
"Umm...do I have something on my face?"
Shaking his head, the other replied, "Oh, no, sorry 'bout that." Looking down, he continued. "Um...what happened? Why is he sleeping?"
Sniffing again, Cyndan sobbed a few times. "I don't really know...except that fire was everywhere, along with this bad air and water. Then the ground started shaking, and we couldn't stop, and, and...*sniff* we hit the bottom...but I...don't think...he's sleeping...but with...Arceus, now..." His speech was wracked with sobs and sniffs.
Crawling over to him, the Riolu put his arms around his shoulder and pulled him into a hug. "Do nay cry, everything's alrigh'." He said, his northern accent coming out a bit. "I lost my parents too, over yonder. I do nay think they fell as well, but I lost them all the same..." The Riolu sniffed as well. "How 'bout we stick together? You look a little young to know much 'bout living on your own, but I'll help ya'. We can be buds, always together and watching the other's back. How does that sound?"
His sniffing and sobbing slowing, the Cyndiquil answered, "Sure...but what's your name?"
"Tucker! With a capital 'T'!" He cheerily said, despite the circumstances.
"Nice to meet you, Tucker, but which way do we go?"
Looking back from the way he came, Tucker sighed. "It may be hard now, now it'll be easier to get out if we go uphill."
Nodding his head, Cyndan followed the Riolu as he leapt off Vincent. Giving his father one last hug, Cyndan left, hoping to find a way out of their prison.
O.o.o.O.o.o.O
They had been padding along for a while, now. The hieght of the rift had steadily decreased, but the height was still well over eight feet, way too high for a couple of kids. "How much longer," Cyndan panted. "Till we reach the end?"
Looking over to his new companion, Tucker swallowed what little moisture he had left in his mouth, not wanting to drink out of the filthy brook they padded through. "I'm...not too sure...We may never reach the end; it may have started underground."
Glancing over, Cyndan replied, "Well, let's hope we do, we just have to keep a positive attitude!" He bounded forward, leaving a tired Riolu struggling behind him.
"Wait up!"
Turning around a small bend, Cyndan stopped and gulped. A large pile of rocks were stacked haphazardly against the end of the chasm, blocking any further movement. However...
"Cyndan! Wait up for me!" Turning around the bend, the Riolu crashed into Cyndan, knocking both of them off of their feet. "Oof!"
Looking up, they both gazed in awe, until understanding dawned on Cyndan's face. "C'mon, I have an idea! Follow me!" Finding hand- and foot-holds, the Cyndiquil climbed up each rock seperately, making sure no rocks would fall on the canine climbing below him. Grasping the edge and flluttering his legs, the tiny fire mouse pulled himself, gasping, onto land once more.
His ears pricked as he heard some noise, rumbling almost, below. Looking over, he saw Tucker, a leg caught under a rock. "Cyndan!" He gasped. "It...it hurts...AAAUUUGGHH!" He screamed, as the rock shifted, and he burst into tears. "Get...help...please...anyone, anything! Just please- AUGH! SHIT, THAT HURTS!"
Cyndan, not knowing what a swear was, nevermind what it meant or why it came out of a mouth of someone so young, merely nodded and ran off, leaving his anguished cries of his friend behind him.
Trying to pick up a scent, Cyndan swept his long nose back and forth, desperate for any scent, even...even...even...Cyndan shuddered as he picked up a scent, one he had grown up to fear, one that if picked up, to run, run as fast as possible back to the burrow; Mightyena, the most viscious of all of the predators, the only one to never give up on its prey and chase it until it died itself.
But there was another scent, most likely the prey, and a young one at that, small...and...almost similar to his sister's and mother's; female, maybe? It was quite amazing how much detail one could pick up from even an old and worn out scent, if one knew what to small for. It was one of the last things his father taught him before leaving. The scent was closer to his mother's than his father's, or even Tucker's, for that matter. He had seen a small group of Glameow and a Perugly to boot; that was alot closer, but not the same at all.
Shaking his fears, Cyndan ran off in persuit. After about fifteen minutes of chase, he could start to hear devilish growling coupled with wimpering; he was close! Breaking through a clearing, he spotted them; a Mightyena with a cornered pokemon, white and somewhat similar to the aforementioned felines. It looked like it stood on two legs, however, and she had a golden oval on her head, glittering in the sun. It was the only splash of color, besides her red eyes, against the white fur.
Acting on instinct, Cyndan launched a cloud of smoke at the canine, causing it to hack and sneeze. Tackling it onto its side, using a burst of adrenaline, he turned on his heels and nudged the sniffling cat along, pushing her and getting her to run.
"Follow me, I need your help and you need mine; if it tries to get us I'll use my smokescreen, now run! Hurry!"
Nodding, the female ran along with Cyndan, desperate for any help she could get.