Chapter Fourteen:
The encounter
He closed his eyes at last and began to search the Aura nearby. It proved to be difficult: as every few moments, wave after wave of sickly pain rushed over his mind and clouded his senses, leaving a weight pressing down on his whole body and a vile taste on his tongue.
He had found, some time ago, that in order to attain complete focus on navigating the Aura when he was in pain, he could not try to ignore it as one would initially think; as ignoring the pain and focusing his senses were two entirely different directions of thought. If he was to focus his mind on one clear goal, he would have to accept the pain rather than try to push it away.
'Yes…' he thought, breathing slowly and deliberately,
'Yes, I know…
It is there…
It is real…
And it does hurt…'
And after a minute, he found that the pain was not so great anymore, and let his mind flow like a gentle stream's current into a keen, perceptive nature where he was aware of the smallest things and let nothing escape his awareness.
The steady drumming of the rain crashing down upon the mountain's surface. The moisture in the air and the occasional ruffle against his fur as a breath of wind snuck into the cave's walls, and the smell of the sodden dust that was carried by it.
Then he found it.
It was a feeling similar to that of scouring the fields in the distance for something one had seen but only just now lost, camouflaged against the expanse of green only to suddenly find it once again and hold it to their attention.
The tiniest flicker of Aura nudged at the edges of his mind and he focused immediately on it, allowing it to creep steadily over him.
Finally he succeeded, and from beneath his closed eyes he saw the space all around him enveloped in that familiar silvery glow, along with the trails of Aura left as those present in the cave had moved to and fro, smaller and more transparent with the time that had passed, larger and more cloudy in the places they had been in mere minutes before.
He followed the trail of bright gold and clear blue out into the open until he located his two companions, and allowed his whole being to relax and observe. Once he had managed to pinpoint the frame of mind required to see the Aura, he never had any difficulty keeping it intact.
The Bird-Pokémon flew down from above and twittered in the air before her.
"Did you find 'em?" she asked breathlessly.
The little creature chirped.
She guessed it meant yes.
"Come on, Rowan!" she urged, scrambling up the slippery slope as the Bird-Pokémon flew ahead.
He watched the gold hurry after the tiny spec of mint-green whilst the blue struggled to keep up with them both.
"Sally, slow down! We shouldn't split up!"
"We can't afford to slow down! Not even for a second! You saw him! You saw how badly he's been hurt!"
She pulled herself up onto level ground and immediately continued after the flying Pokémon, waiting until Rowan had at least seen where she was headed before hurrying onward.
By that point, she was exhausted. How far had they gone from the cave? How much further would they have to climb?
She was leaning against the mountain wall and sweating despite the chill in the air. But a moment's thought of that dark wound was enough to send a jolt to her nerves and make her pull herself along the wall in pure desperation.
He watched as they moved onward, judging by the structure that nature's Aura took what kind of terrain they were climbing.
Her body felt as if it weighed as much as lead as she trudged through the wet, powdery ground. She heard, for the final time, a high chirrup ahead and saw the flying Pokémon head sideways into a gap in the wall, and, hoping against the odds that the end of their search was near, followed suit, barely noticing the strangely shaped surface of the ground she walked on.
Howl gasped as he felt a wave of cold shock course through him.
"No…!"
He had seen something. He had sensed it. Felt its presence.
"Sally…! Rowan…!"
He gritted his teeth and forced himself to stand. At once, he felt his legs begin to buckle and he put an arm on the wall to steady himself, blood speeding through his brain.
He grunted, trembled and groaned as he forced his weakened body to regain its lost strength.
He stumbled, feeling a little more stability in his legs with each step he took, and tried with all his might to reach their minds with his telepathy, knowing in his heart that even with his full strength, the distance between them was simply too great.
He breathed a deep lungful of cold air and managed to force himself to break into a jog, his right paw held over the blood-soaked towel.
Sally turned the corner and saw a large, circular space right before her eyes. The walls were formed of smooth rock, but the ground, to her surprise, was verdant like a meadow, grass and wildflowers alike flattened by the sky's deluge.
She tugged the front of her hood forwards to shield her eyes and looked around the place until she caught sight of tiny fluttering wings.
"Where are they?" she asked, casting about below.
The Pidgey made a note and she followed its gaze.
"Wha-?
…So they… grow pretty tall, huh?"
The tree she found herself to be standing before was not at all what she remembered being shown in her mind.
The tree (or trees) she had been expecting had been relatively small, but what stood before her was a gargantuan in both height and bulk.
She imagined it would surely take days for it to be cut down.
Up in the midst of its canopy she saw bright-blue orbs hanging here and there around it, and knew at once that they were the Oran Berries they desperately needed.
She made to climb it, but realised there was not a single branch or uneven space for her to grip onto.
"Have you found them?"
She answered,
"Yeah."
-as Rowan joined her by the great tree's roots.
"How're we supposed to get up there?"
Before she could reply, the flying Pokémon fluttered up to one of the large round fruits and clutched its sides between her feet, her wings working furiously, and broke the stalk with her beak. She then hovered in the air above them and chirruped again before letting it fall.
"Hey, that's pretty cool!" said Rowan as Sally straightened up. (She had only just managed to catch it.)
"Even a little Pokémon like that can be helpful."
His eyes moved up to the Pidgey, and his smile was immediately brushed away as he shot to his knees as she had done and managed to catch the Oran Berry a split-second before it hit the ground.
He dug his claws into the earth before him as he struggled up the slope, watching the menacing Aura draw closer and closer towards his companions' position.
If he could just manage to catch up and draw it away before it saw them…
"Okay, d'you think we've got enough?"
She couldn't be sure. The little Pokémon who had first introduced her to their healing qualities had seemed to have used dozens before she had taken over, but in hindsight, Howl's wound had been considerably deeper at the time…
"Yeah, that oughta be enough," she said.
'And if it turns out not to be, we'll just have to come back and get more,' she finished in her head. They had wasted enough time here, and needed to get back and at least begin to heal their guide before his blood loss was too great.
It appeared that Rowan was of the same mind, for as soon as she had replied, he had shown all the signs of haste and worry.
Shouldering her backpack once more and with the Bird-Pokémon leading the way, they began to head towards the exit, but then she slipped and fell to all fours.
"Come on, Sally!" Rowan groaned.
"Sorry!"
But then she did a double-take. She had placed her foot on something smooth, unstable, and slick with rain. The ground where she had almost fallen was barren of foliage, and as she glanced at it, Sally saw why.
"Are those…" she said, feeling the hairs on the back of her neck prickle,
"...bones?"
Rowan came cautiously closer and helped her to her feet.
His face went pale, and she felt suddenly faint.
"You don't think that guy from before did all this…?"
She couldn't answer.
She noticed the shapes and sizes of some particular bones among the heap, and felt sickened when she saw how some of them had been split into pieces.
"No," she said.
'No way… He was nuts, but… surely a human with a knife couldn't… Wouldn't…'
The Pidgey came fluttering back to them and gave a screech of the exact same kind when she had been imprisoned: high, rolling, terrified!
"What?!" said Rowan as she flapped her wings in his eyes, "What did I-"
But he never got to finish his sentence, because the Pidgey had given another screech and begun flapping her wings at Sally instead.
"Cut it out!" she snapped as the Pidgey seized her ear in her beak and tried to pull, flapping and tugging only to finally let go and screech at her again.
Then, from just out of sight, they heard a snarl from outside the clearing, closely followed by heavy, pounding footsteps.
The Bird-Pokémon suddenly lowered its voice and twittered urgently before speeding towards the Oran Tree and vanishing inside its canopy.
The footsteps steadily drew nearer towards the opening in the enclosure, and a sudden fear took hold of them both. They hurried back towards the tree as well and hid behind it just as there came another snarl, alarmed and suspicious, as the footsteps slowed down upon entering the clearing.
Slowly, they sank to the ground, edging round as the footsteps moved past from one end of the clearing to the other. Rowan had sweat dripping down his brow and his breathing was heavy, but other than that he made no sound. Sally on the other hand was petrified! Who was this intruder? Why did they frighten her so much? Could they be the one responsible for…?
Rowan whispered to her and grabbed her arm gently.
"Sally."
She looked at him, wide-eyed.
"Come on. It's looking away. Let's go, quickly!"
"No…!"
She shook her head, but Rowan peered towards the creature again and dragged her along behind him as he made a wild dash for the exit.
She was horrified and infuriated beyond all comprehension, but pressed her free hand to her mouth and fought to keep her voice as quiet as possible.
The creature made a sound as though it had heard something, and she looked towards it. At the other end of the clearing with its back to them, she saw what was unmistakeably a Pokémon standing on two large stumps for legs, bearing a row of four spikes down the back of its large, grey body, two arms that - although were relatively small - looked very powerful, and a large tail with six paper-thin black stripes circling its surface from the base to the tip.
It began to turn its head towards them, but they were already at the exit and managed to escape from sight not a moment too soon.
They hurried towards the slope and down it as quickly as they could, rounded the corner and backed against the wall as they crossed the top of a slant. There was barely a moment to breathe a sigh of relief when Sally noticed a large shadow appear over Rowan's figure, and saw a trail of dust douse top of his hood.
"Nuh…!"
She couldn't even speak! Her lungs had constricted in horror!
The shadow moved - shrank in size only to grow massive in a heartbeat before it vanished from sight.
"ROWAN!"
Sally had leapt at his shoulders and pushed him out of harm's way a mere second before the creature had landed right where they stood.
The force caused their footing to crumble and Sally and Rowan were sent tumbling down the mountain wall, rocks and dirt following and colliding against their bodies until they crumpled on the ground below.
A sound echoed clearly through the open air; a snarl and loud rebounding thuds drawing closer, closer and closer until the loudest thud of all forced Sally's eyes open as something heavy skidded past where they lay, scattering grass and mud up in its path. Amidst the falling earth, Sally saw that very same long grey tail and cast about for Rowan, but he was nowhere in sight! She tried to lift herself off the ground, but as she allowed a minimum of her weight into her legs, a surge of pain shot through her shin, preventing her from standing!
The ground trembled beneath her as she sensed the creature approaching.
"NO!" she heard, and saw something move behind the creature's monstrous frame,
"Get… BACK!"
She saw what looked like a broken tree branch swing round from behind the Pokémon and strike it across its head.
The Pokémon did not so much as flinch, and the branch was splintered against its rock-hard skin.
It turned round to face its attacker, who recoiled as it began to approach him instead.
"Rowan!"
She tried to stand, tried to crawl, but her leg would not allow it!
"Rowan!"
The creature snarled and swiped with a clawed-hand, and Sally heard the voice of her dearest friend yelp – but not in pain!
The creature stamped its heavy feet as it closed in on Rowan, swiping at him again and again until she caught a fleeting glimpse of him dart to the side to try and escape – but the Pokémon had been waiting for this.
Rowan had barely gone a couple of steps before the Pokémon spun around and swept its massive tail along the ground.
Rowan did not merely trip – he was knocked head-over-heels by the strength of the blow and landed hard on his back.
The Pokémon drew in close, seized his leg and clawful of his hair, lifted him into the air and hurled him brutally down before immediately lifting him again and hurling him down once more.
Sally cried his name – but could do nothing to help! The pain was non-existent to her as she fought with all her heart to stand up, but one leg alone was not enough to support her and she collapsed on all fours.
Rowan's voice cried out as he was thrown across the clearing and landed against the rock wall, and on the ground he lay, unmoving, as the creature began to approach him, raising its claws high.
"ROWAN!"
The Pokémon's arm had twitched with the movement of striking a split-second before a dark-blue streak had shot towards it and burst in a cloud of blue haze. The attacker staggered back, its stubby arms clutching at its head, and then Sally heard rocks clatter down overhead as a familiar figure leapt into the air and let out a roar that rebounded off the walls and sliced through the dark clouds. The attacker had not even a moment to react before Howl landed right on top of it and struck a mighty blow at its head. The creature cried out and shook itself as the strike was followed by more, crashing and thudding against its skull until it snarled again and lurched over, driving its snout into the earth with just enough power to dislodge its foe. The Pokémon saw Howl at last and roared, lifted a boulder that had fallen from the slope and hurled it at him. Howl leapt out of the way, saw his quarry charging towards him and sprang forward, seized the horn on its head and flipped round so that his feet perched on its back, where he drew his paw and struck with Force Palm, sending it stumbling straight into the wall.
Howl panted, wiping mud off his muzzle, and observed his opponent as they fought their way out of the fissure they had made.
'A Rhydon…' he thought, and then he caught sight of its face; the wide, glowing eyes; the yellowing teeth; its body covered in mud, grime, and all kinds of filth.
'Yes…' he realised grimly, 'No doubt about it. This one's been Feral for quite some time…'
He was brought out of his reverie by the sound of crumbling stone and caught a moment's warning of a rock being hurled at him again. There was no time for him to avoid it, but just enough for him to shield his head with his arms – the spikes on his forepaws luckily absorbing most of the impact as the Rhydon charged a second time.
'Well-' he thought as he leapt over his attacker again, who skidded to try and stop itself, '-guess there's no point trying to reason with him, then…'
He thought of his companions, and then his expression hardened.
'A Rock-Type. Feral. Nowhere to run, no way to restrain it, and here I am on an escort mission…
…Looks like I'll have to handle this the old-fashioned way.'
The Feral Rhydon charged at him again, but Howl was ready for it this time. It was a difficult technique, but he managed to use Extreme Speed to launch himself forwards at an angle and immediately followed up with a Force Palm at his opponent's chest. He jumped up as the Rhydon fell back and instinctively fired an Aura Sphere down, landing on its stomach amidst the haze and unleashing a torrent of strikes at its entire upper-body. The Rhydon's horn suddenly began to glow, and Howl leapt back off it as it unleashed Horn Attack at the space he had been in not a moment before.
The Feral Rhydon sprang to its feet and roared before bounding up into the air, flipping round and using the combined powers of the drill-like, cream-coloured horn on its snout and claws to burrow its way underground.
Howl straightened up and listened intently. The Feral had not run away. He could hear it below, clawing through the earth, but through sound alone there was no way to tell where.
He glared at the place where it had disappeared.
"Hiding won't help you…" he said quietly. The feeling had not ebbed away completely, and so he closed his eyes, focused his mind and saw the familiar silver glow envelop the surrounding area. In no time at all, he found his quarry and held them to his attention, seeing a tumult of emotions alter the heart-beat waves, shaping them from rage to confusion to fear and then back into rage. His opponent was frightened, angered and most importantly, uncertain. Even they did not know what they would – or should do next, and that in itself made them much more dangerous than if their intentions had been clear…
He bent to one knee and placed a paw on the ground before him.
"I know you can understand me!" he said via telepathy, "You and I are not enemies! There is no need for us to fight each other! Calm yourself and leave now before this gets any worse!"
He saw the waves ripple peculiarly as though, for but a moment, the Rhydon had seriously contemplated his words. Then he saw the waves blaze with rage, and saw the Aura burrow its way through the earth towards one end of the clearing. Towards where their fight had begun.
Howl snarled, took a single step back to brace himself, and ran at full speed, overtaking his quarry below with just enough time to sling Rowan's limp figure over his shoulder and leap out of range as the Rhydon burst free in a shower of rocks, clay and mud.
Howl landed roughly, bending one knee to absorb the impact of their combined weight and spun round to catch the Rhydon's arm as it swung its claws at them, and before it had the chance to swing its free arm, Howl let go, slipped round to its side and unleashed Force Palm, his Move connecting right into his opponent's ribs with enough power to topple them over. He hurried towards Sally and lowered Rowan to the ground before her, and as he did, she saw that the bandage had come loose and the towel was gone.
His wound was bleeding freely again.
She reached for his arm to try and get his attention, but her fingers closed around empty space. She called him back as he leapt upon his hunched opponent and began to strike at them again, but received no acknowledgement. The Rhydon made to lurch forwards and hurl him off as it had done before, but as soon as it so much as raised its arms, Howl soared upward into the air with Extreme Speed, charged a moderate-sized Aura Sphere and hurled it back down, landing hard on the Rhydon's tail before using two simultaneous Force Palm's to launch it across the ground towards where the wall opened in the clearing.
As the two Pokémon stood apart from one-another, Sally could see the exertion clearly on each of them.
Their attacker was heavily battered and could barely manage to get up off the ground due to its own weight, but its expression and vocal sounds of fury were still all too noticeable.
Howl on the other hand looked as though he were almost finished. His breathing was heavy, his eyes glazed with exhaustion, and his powerful legs which had held him for so long were trembling violently.
The Guardian choked back his nausea, shook his head to rid the ringing in his ears, and squinted through his heavy eyelids.
'I wasn't ready for all this at once…' he thought, clutching his bleeding wound, 'But… it's nothing… I can't handle!'
The ringing returned and he shook his head again, fighting with all his will to remain standing. He thought of Sally and Rowan, and what would happen to them if he let himself fall now.
He remembered a certain voice speaking to him that very morning…
"Thank you, sir…
Thank you so, so much…"
And then his own words; his own response:
"You keep your promise to me, and I'll do the same."
His fingers curled into fists.
"I will…!" he snarled, glaring straight into the blurred outline of the Rhydon before him,
"I gave my word…!"
Howl roared to the open air and charged, feinted to left and right and used Extreme Speed to soar straight past his foe, landing feet-first against the wall to the side and propelled himself onto the Rhydon's back. The Feral roared in pain with every strike that followed, but could not begin to counter them before Howl vaulted over to its front and struck with two final Force Palms, sending his opponent flying towards the large opening in the rocky wall, where it landed hard on the ground with its upper-body still inside the clearing. It made to stand again, but began to struggle and flail its arms, gripping clawfuls of grass and mud.
Panting; exhausted; Howl walked over to the opening and stood beside the Rhydon.
The slope was dangerously steep. If he were to fall, he would not be likely to survive. But the Rhydon…?
He peered further down and saw the rock formation jutting out here and there down the slope until it finally came to the river far below. He glanced over at the Rhydon's tough, rock-hard hide and saw it dragging its feet along the slope to try and clamber up again.
Howl raised his paw not clutching his wound and began to charge an Aura Sphere, walking slowly round until he stood right before his foe.
They looked at each other briefly, his expression set and cold whilst the Rhydon's was filled with savage loathing.
The Rhydon snarled and swung its right foot up onto level ground – but by then Howl had already thrust his paw down and turned away as the Aura Sphere burst upon the very ground his quarry held onto.
The Rhydon clawed and scrabbled against the slope, but its weight was too much, and it slid down immediately.
Howl closed his eyes and heard it collide into the uneven spaces – hopefully slowing down its momentum – before he heard it land into the river with a deafening crash.
He waited, his breath held.
Then, a little way into the distance, he heard the Rhydon's roar and as it struggled to reach the surface – alive, but wounded deeply from their battle, and above all, unable to reach them again.
He let out the breath he'd been holding, but found that opening his eyes again was just too difficult…
Every fibre of Sally's body convulsed.
Howl began to topple, the little of his face she could see deeply exerted as he collapsed onto the sodden earth.
"No."
She sprinted across the clearing, forgetting about her wounded leg and fell to her knees.
"No, no, no…"
She distantly heard Rowan mumble himself awake as she crawled towards their guide.
"Howl," she pleaded, turning him round onto his back.
His eyes were shut, his mouth hung slightly open, and his breathing was near-inaudible.
"Please! Wake up. You've got to!"
Her words yielded no response. Not even the slightest indication that they had been heard.
She swung her backpack to the ground and fought with shaking fingers against the straps.