Chapter Name: Total Silence

Author Notes: Hey All! Kite here to wish you all a good day! Sorry about the long wait between chapters, College is a total B*tch sometimes. Well now we are finnaly starting to enter the Southlands that I've been wanting to enter. The southlands that is as beautiful as it is deadly. Up unto this point the Southlands crew hasn't had much of a problem with the land. That all changes in this chapter.

Chapter Start…..

This place lives up to its name….

A gentle wind wafted through the trees, parting the leaves as it cut through the air. The only sound Kiri was able to here was the wind blowing, beyond that there was nothing.

Just silence…

No birds, no bubbling streams, no Pokémon.

This forest is dead…yet alive…

Kiri closed her eyes and tried to pick up a sound that wasn't the trees creaking in the wind.

Something….Anything……nothing…

She sighed and opened her eyes to see Kite staring at her.

"Something wrong?" He asked. Kiri shook her head and laughed.

"No, just trying to listen to the forest. I'll admit, if the wind wasn't blowing, this place would be creepy."

Kite let out a small grin and turned back towards the rest of the group who were resting on the side of the road. Kiri herself decided to sit down and rest her legs. She sat down and leaned back on a small tree and stretched out her legs.

They had left Woods Edge earlier this morning after spending the night resting. They had originally planned to stay for another day to prepare for the journey south to Palmer, but both Kite and Dean had insisted on leaving that day. Considering what had happened yesterday, Kiri couldn't argue.

As she rested, she glanced at Kite who was looking out into the trees with narrowed eyes. She still had a hard time wrapping her mind around what she had seen yesterday. She had watched the man who she saw as a kind and cheerful person (Lol…She's in for a surprise) turn into a master martial artist. She had seen people perform martial arts before in movies and sometimes in person when she passed through the dojo in Sootopolis City, but never before had she seen someone so efficient and fast. The fact that he seemed to shrug the whole thing off as a "simple misunderstanding in a bar" was also very strange.

But she had noticed that ever since that day, Kite had become a little bit more careful. The entire time they had been walking, he had been casting glances over his shoulder and scanning the forest. Almost as if he was suspecting something to jump out and attack them.

But considering how strange this forest was, something just might.

"I think we've spent long enough resting and loafing around." Ash said while standing up.

Pikachu jumped on his back and let out an agreement. As everyone else stood up, May suddenly shot up like a rocket and pointed into the forest.

"I think I just saw someone!" She said. Everyone's head turned and looked in the general direction that she had been pointing. Kiri looked hard into the dark, forest but saw nothing.

"It was probably Dean." Kite said as he lifted up his pack.

"No, Dean is right-" Brock said turning around and looking behind him, only to see nobody there, "-….here…"

"Guys a damn ninja sometimes…" Sange muttered as he began walking down the path to the south.

"What's he doing out there?" Dawn asked Kite.

"Probably checking to see if anything is out there." Kite said in a serious tone. As if nature was laughing at him, the wind suddenly died down for a moment and silence fell across the forest. Everyone stared at each other as the silence dawned on them. Then a few seconds later the wind picked up again.

"Talk about dramatic effect…" Sange muttered again. But Kiri could tell he was alert as Kite, as his ears occasionally twitched as they scanned for any sound.

This forest is getting to everyone….

"Is there something out there?" May asked in a calm voice, but Kiri could tell she was worried.

Kite shrugged, but the hard edge in his eyes didn't leave.

"Maybe, maybe not….but if there is something that goes bump in the night out there, Dean will be there to bump first."

"Anyone else here that?" Ash said from the front of the group. Everyone stopped and listened.

"Yeah, it's about time we got there…"Kite said.

"Got where?" May asked him. Kite put a finger to his lips.

"Listen"

Everyone stopped and opened up their ears to listen for whatever sound Ash and Kite had picked up. Slowly but surley, they began to here what sounded like the sound of water cascading over rocks.

"There's a river out here?" Kiri asked Kite.

"Several rivers in fact. This area is called the bridge zone due to having at least 7 rope bridges."

Ash suddenly turned very pale.

"Did you say….Seven….rope bridges…" He said in a voice full of fear. Kite raised his eyebrow.

"Yeah. So?"

"uh…uh…uh….uh.." Ash said while looking like he was about to throw up.

Brock gave a nervous laugh from beside him.

"We don't have a very good track record with rope bridges." He said.

"Don't worry these bridges look pretty new." Said a voice behind Kiri and May. Both of them nearly jumped ten feet in the air from surprise. Standing behind them was Dean with a very amused expression on his face.

"Sorry girls." He said with a laugh as they both shot his a dirty look. "Anyways, I checked out the first bridges, and they look pretty safe so I don't think tha-"

FIVE MINUTES LATER

"And I always wonder why my path always has to cross one of these bridges" Ash said sarcastically.

"You probably pissed on a Indian burial ground, how should I know! Just don't move!" Dean said while holding onto the side rope.

"You know….we should have gone across this thing one at a time… " May said with a slow voice.

"Yeah well…..Hindsight is a bitc-"Sange Began.

Creaaaaaak

Everyone froze and looked down at the wooden planks holding them up. As soon as they had reached the middle of the bridge, the wood had started to creak and moan from the stress. Suddenly the raging river that was below them looked far more dangerous as there was a chance they could fall in.

In the front of the group, Kite was watching the bridge swing back and forth in the wind. For a moment he considered getting everyone to double time it across, but as he looked at some of the boards, he decided it wasn't the best of his ideas.

Beside him, Kiri had one hand on the rail, and the other on her hat.

"Kite, Do you think you could use moon to hold the bridge?" She asked.

"That would work…but I'm worried about the extra weight she'll put on the bridge the instant I let her out."

Sange snorted.

"I don't think Moon is fat….this is all Kiri's fault!"

"WHAT?" She yelled, turning around. The bridge shifted a little under her feet.

"AHHHHH" Everyone let yelled as they gripped the ropes tighter, but Kiri wasn't about to be stopped.

"HOW IS THIS MY FAULT?"

"I'm just saying, your hat probably weighs two hundred pounds or something and-" Sange started to say before he turned and look at the other side of the bridge. Kiri, Kite and the others all turned to see a Pidgeot flying towards the bridge. It looked tired from flying as its wing beats seemed to me lazy. It then noticed the the bridge and began flying towards it.

"Is that bird…." Dawn Began. Everyone Then started to slowly let out a long curse.

"Oh…."

The massive flying Pokémon started slowing down as it reached the bridge.

"Son…"

Kite reached down to his belt and pulled out a poke ball, returning Sange in a flash of white light. The bridge suddenly shifted as it reacted to the absence of his weight.

"Of…"

The Pidgeot brought itself to a hover and gently touched down on one of the support ropes.

"A….."

Kite quickly grabbed Kiri's hand and looped his other arm around the support rope that the Bird Pokémon wasn't sitting on. Kiri gasped and then squeezed his hand tightly. Behind them, Ash saw them do that, and without thinking, he grabbed May's hand.

"BIIIIIIIIITCHHHH"

Within two seconds of the bird touching down, everyone heard one of the support ropes let out a squealing sound and…snapped.

The bird Pokémon let out a loud "PIDGE" and flew away. The humans on the other hand where not so lucky, as none of them had the ability to fly..(See outtakes later lol)

The Bridge suddenly flipped onto its side as one of the support ropes suddenly went slack. The first thing to happen was for Brock, Dean and Dawn to fly over the side and fall into the water as they were holding onto the rope that had snapped. They made a large splash as they fell into the river below them, and within seconds, where already swept away out of sight.

A few seconds later, the remains of the bridge seemed to "bounce" due to the shift in weight, causing Ash, May and Pikachu to all fall into the water, leaving just Kite and Kiri. Luckily, Kite had a strong grip on the rope, and Kiri who was holding onto his hand below him.

"Oh Damn we are royally screwed!" Kiri yelled, trying to be heard over the rush of the rapids and the various debris smashing into each other. Kite Let out a groan as he felt his muscles burning in his left arm as he held his own weight along with Kiri's.

"Yeah…we are…" He said with a grunt. He could feel his shoulder start to give away from the constant strain.

"Oh damn…"

"What?" Kiri Yelled from under him. Kite looked down and saw her face. He saw the fear outlined on her soft features and sapphire eyes.

He squeezed her hand harder and let out a small grin.

"I'm not letting go!" He yelled. For a single moment, the fear in her eyes evaporated to be replaced with something else that Kite couldn't quite put his finger on, but he had bigger issues. Already he could feel his left arm starting to pop out of his shoulder and the tendons in his right hand starts to break.

But he would not let go.

"Gahhh….Kiri, can you climb on top of me!" He yelled through gritted teeth while trying to fight against the pain slowly burning through his body.

"I can try!" She yelled as she began using Kites arm as a "Rope" and began climbing up his body. She reached his shoulders and wrapped her arms around his neck, holding tight.

"Like this?" She said into his ear.

"Yeah…I think I can get to the other side now that I have two hands and.."

SNAP

From the other side of the bridge the last remaining rope began to split, adding several feet to the length of the rope, but staying strong enough to support their weight. The dropped several feet through the air and suddenly came to a stop, bouncing through the air as the thin rope struggled to distribute their momentum from the fall they just took.

The instant they jerked upwards in the bounce, Kite felt his arm leave his shoulder socket in an explosion of pain.

"GAAAAAHAHH" Kite screamed as his arm began spasm.

"KITE" Kiri yelled from his back.

But as he lost all motor control in his arm, the rope he was holding on finally gave a groan and snapped in two. And within a few seconds, the two of them where falling through the air and into the water.

"HOT DROP IN ONE" Came Zach's voice over the intercom as Kite checked his weapon for the last time. The cabin gave a shudder as Kite heard, or rather felt a Anti-air missile pass by. But he wasn't worried. He had faith that Zach could drive the drop ship through hell without even getting a scratch on it and keep everyone inside safe.

Outside the window, he could see a rapidly approaching island and small explosions from AA fire. There were other drop ships too, all full of Spec-ops Commandos, ready to battle and ready to die.

But he was the most important person here.

"Alright Kid, you ready for this?" Sky asked from across him.

Kite shoved a custom magazine into his Combat Rifle and flipped the safety off.

"Just get me there." He said in a low voice.

Sky nodded, "And you're clear on the target?"

"Yes"

"THIRTY SECONDS, GET READY TO KICK IT" Zach yelled.

"Alright Austin, you're up at bat and the bases are loaded..."

Suddenly, instead of Sky finishing his sentence, his face seemed to warp and twist. His words became a distant echo and grayness started to dot Kites vision. He began to feel like someone was grabbing onto his chest and hitting it with a sledgehammer.

"This is a dream…"

He tried to breathe in but couldn't. He tried to move but couldn't.

Kite Austin was slowly suffocating to death and he was powerless to stop it.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

"Oh man…" Kiri coughed up a torrent of water and threw up the contents of her stomach. She grabbed her stomach in pain as she continued to empty her lungs and stomach of any and all fluids.

"Ugggg…." She said while wiping her mouth and looking around. All around her, silent trees stood motionless and tall. Behind her was the river she had just been washed down along with Kite.

Kite…

"KITE" She yelled, shooting up to her feet. She scanned the area around her and noticed what looked like a person farther up river. She quickly ran to the figure and gasped.

Kite lay completely still, face down on the ground.

And in his Hand was her hat. Upon seeing the hat in his hand, memories from the past few moments flooded back into her head.

We fell into the water…then Kite grabbed me and held me tight.

But something was wrong with his arm…

He was in pain…

Then we hit a rock and we got separated..Kite tried to grab me, but ended up grabbing my hat…and then this…

She dropped onto her knees and pushed Kite onto his back and leaned down to listen for a heartbeat.

There was none.

Blind panic surged into her mind as she suddenly realized that the man who had saved her could be dead.

"Oh no no no no no no no." She started repeating. In the back of her mind, a single voice of reason was able to penetrate the veil of panic. CPR!! Quickly, she started compressing his chest with the palm of her hand in a rhythmic fashion. Each compression slightly harder than the last as the panic started to take hold again.

"Come on Kite…" She pleaded.

She hesitated for a second, but then pressed her lips onto Kites and held his nose shut as she breathed deep into his throat. After expending her supply of oxygen, she removed her lips from his and then tried again.

No response

"Come on…" She said in desperation. She repeated to compressions and the breathed air into his lungs again. Yet still nothing happened. She tried it another, and even another time yet still nothing happened. The blind panic set in again.

"COME ON KITE DON'T DO THIS TO ME" She started pounding his chest in blind panic. Tears started flowing from her eyes as she saw no reaction from him.

"DAMN-" pound "-IT-"pound "-KITE-"pound "-WAKE-" pound "-UP"

As soon as her arm connected with Kites chest the next time, she felt was could only be described as an electrical shock pass through her arm. It started from her heart, traveled into her shoulder and down through her arm. Yet she was so panicked by then, she didn't feel it and continued to pound.

Kites eyes shot open.

"WAKE-" pound "-UP-" She yelled and prepared to pound his chest again.

Kites hand shot up and grabbed her arm before it could land.

"You can stop hitting me now…" He said in pained voice, but there was a smile on his face. Kiri's eyes suddenly changed from complete sadness to disbelief, and then complete and total bliss. She shoved forward and wrapped her arms around Kite, tears coming from her eyes.

"OHMYGOD I THOUGHT YOU DIED" She yelled through tears of happiness.

"Kiri…"Kite said in a level voice.

"Yes?" She said, still holding onto him tightly.

"Can you…get off my shoulder please…?" He said, pain now evident in his voice. Kiri almost leaped of Kite, a blush on her face.

"Sorry…" She said.

"Hehe…sok..I think this is yours." He said, holding up her hat. Kiri smiled and blushed again as she took it and placed it on her head.

Kite managed to prop himself up without putting any pressure on his dislocated shoulder. He rolled his sleeve up and started to examine his shoulder with careful eyes.

"Well…good news is, I can fix this…"

"I sense a but coming…."

"….Its gonna hurt like hell…I need to find my bag…"

Kiri nodded and began scanning the riverside until she noticed both her and Kites bag on the riverbank. She quickly retrieved them and brought them to Kite. Kite reached in and brought out a clean shirt, but instead of putting it on, he stuck some of it between his teeth. Kiri raised her eyebrow at him.

"What are you doing?"

"Marking shure thath I doth bite my tounge" He said with the shirt in his mouth. He took it the shirt out for a moment.

"Kiri…can you please leave for five minutes, take a look around?"

"Why? I want to make sure your alright…"

"I'm fine, please Kiri."

Kiri looked into his eyes and saw a note of desperation in them. He didn't want her to look around, he didn't want her to see what he was about to do. Kiri sighed and began walking to the tree line. She gave one last concerned look at him before disappearing into the forest.

Kite relaxed, then stiffened.

Well here we go.

He quickly began twisting his elbow left and right in a rhythmic fashion. After several second of that, he grabbed his upper arm and shoved it violently into his shoulder.(Yeah I know that's not how you fix a anterior dislocation, but this is for dramatic effect)

"RRRRRRAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRG"

Even though his voice was muffled by the cloth, his scream could still be heard across most the forest. He gasped as he literally "felt" his joints resetting. After he was done, he fell on his side and gasped for air. He suddenly felt someone behind him.

"I thought I told you to take a walk…" He said through gasps.

"Yeah well…the whole forest could here you" Kiri said as she fell to her knees beside him.

"Hehe…I bet…Help me up please…" Kiri looped an arm around him and pulled him up to his feet. Kite nearly fell over, but Kiri kept him on his feet. Together they walked to a nearby tree and sat down next to each other.

"Jeez that must have really hurt, I guess the only things you can here in this forest is the wind, water, people's screams and that….never mind."

"Never mind what?" Kite asked.

Kiri shook her head and laughed.

"I must have been hearing things or something, it's nothing."

"No tell me." Kite said with a small smile.

"Well….Wind chimes…" She said shrugging.

Kite jumped to his feet so fast that Kiri fell onto her side in surprise.

"Show me!" Kiri heard a tiny tenor of what sounded like desperation in his voice. But it was gone instantly. Kite reached down and pulled her to her feet.

"Well ok, I'll show you where I heard it." The two of them began walking in the direction that Kiri originally walked. As they passed through the trees, the sound of the river began to rapidly diminish, turning from a roaring and majestic tenor, to a dull moan.

Wow I must have screamed loudly for her to hear me…

"Well…I thought I heard them around here…"

Kite opened his ears and listened for anything that wasn't the river or the wind. After listening for several seconds, the excitement that had been building inside of him started to diminish.

"Well…I guess it was just the wind or something-" Kiri began

Cling………cling……….cling……

"Did you-"

"-here that?"

The two of them looked at each other for a split second before running towards the source of the noise. Kite was now visibly excited.

"If this is what I think it is…" He yelled.

A few seconds later, they arrived in a small clearing.

They both came to a stop and gasped.

"What….what….is…this place…" Kiri managed to say.

On every tree in the grove, there where silver wind chimes. Dozens upon dozens of metal tubes gently wafted through the air, slowly creating a beautiful melody that touched both of their souls. On the other side of the grove was what appeared to be a small enclosure with a log roof and sides. They could both see what appeared to be a wall with writing on it inside of it.

"This is….A Vale Wind Chime Shrine…." Kite said with wonder in his voice.

"A…..What….?" Kiri said, taking her eyes off the scene before her and onto Kite.

"Well the vale is-"

"I know what Isaranami is Kite, I'm asking about the shrine."

Kite spun around.

"You know the Vales true name...How??"

She blushed a little.

"I read….a lot…." She shook her head "Anyways, what's this place about?"

The two of them began walking towards the enclosure. As they walked, they saw signs of age in the shrine. Many of the wind chimes there rusted and corroded and some even completely destroyed. Layers of dust lie on the floor of the enclosure, showing no one had been inside it for ages.

"Well….the Isaranami religion is based off a pantheon of gods…yet every god is close to nature, so they build their shrines in places like this."

He walked into the enclosure…and suddenly felt a chill down his spine. Kiri too felt it and stiffened.

"What….is this…this place…feels wrong…" She said.

Kite tried to throw of his discomfort but found he couldn't. Whatever is was, it was chilling him to his very soul. He looked around and saw that a wall had a group of large symbols on it. A group of….

This is written in….

He reached forward and ran a hand across the writing. It was wet to the touch and some of the ink stuck to his fingers. He brought it to his nose and smelled it.

"This is written in human blood…."He said. A black cloud seemed to settle on both their hearts.

"But this place looks like nobody has come here in years…."Kiri said, trying to find a way to explain why the blood was still wet.

He looked at the symbol again and frowned.

"What?"

"I'm trying to translate this thing, hold on…"

Kite stared at it for a moment, dredging up the Vale language from the depths of his mind. It had been several years since he had needed to use the language and he had forgotten much of it.

"It says…" Kites heart seemed to flutter as he said the words. "We are watching…."

Outside the wind suddenly died and the wind chimes fell silent. Where the sky had been sunny and bright, it transformed into a deep overcast, with thunder clouds forming.

Both Kite and Kiri looked at each other.

"Kite….what kind of shrine is this…"

Kite looked back at the wall and pointed towards a large symbol, written in ink, not blood.

"That….is the symbol for the Isaranami Death god….and this is his temple…."

Authors Notes: hehe, looks like Kite and Kiri are about to have a run in with the supernatural, Lord knows how that will turn out. Anyways, It seems there is another ship being born. KiteXKiri. Anyways folks, see you next time!

Outtakes:

"DON'T WORRY GUYS, IN THE EVENT OF AN EMERGENCY; MY HAT CAN BECOME A HOT AIR BALLON!!" Kiri yelled as she pressed down on a button. A small hatch appeared on top of her hat and in an instant; a huge balloon unfurled and hovered above everyone.

"Well that's unexpected…" Dean growled.