CHAPTER 21
Everyone slept well that night. When Rylan woke up the next morning, he still felt a little sore from the events of yesterday, but he was no longer exhausted.
The recruits gathered around in the center of the campsite for breakfast. Like last night, they didn't have much to discuss during their meal since there was a lot on everyone's minds.
"Eat quickly," said Aggron, "but don't rush. The sooner we finish, the sooner we can scale this mountain."
After Aggron finished his breakfast, he stood up, gathering the attention of everyone else.
"Unfortunately, Nidoran and Wingull have been taken away from us. This forces us to change our travel tactics," said Aggron. "I am going to assign everyone into five teams of two. We can cover more ground this way. I will travel with Buizel and Gabite. Bronzong will travel with Hakamo-o. Slowking will travel with Zweilous. Jynx will travel with Vulpix. Gallade will travel with Rylan."
"Understood, sir," said the Pokémon.
Gallade looked down at Rylan, who appeared nervous. He trusted Gallade, but the haunting events of yesterday were still engraved into his mind.
"Looks like we're teammates today," said Gallade. "I have faith in you, Rylan."
"Mmm…" Rylan nodded.
Gallade could tell that he was still scared. "If you ever need to get anything off your chest, anything at all, you can talk to me about it," Gallade said reassuringly.
"What? Oh, no, I'm all right," Rylan replied.
The rest of the Pokémon quickly finished eating, then everyone packed up their tents and belongings. Aggron then led them to the base of the mountain.
"Let me remind you all once more that the Pokémon we will be fighting are going to bar our passage at any cost," Aggron warned. "They protect the mountain on instinct, so there's no reasoning with them. If you can avoid a fight, do so."
"Understood, sir!" the recruits responded.
Aggron looked forward at the mountain path. "We will each take separate directions. Oh, one more thing…"
Aggron withdrew a bunch of small orbs from his bag and gave one to each Pokémon. "These are Escape Orbs," he said. "If things are getting too dangerous for you to keep going, use the power contained within your orbs. They will return you to the safety of the campsite."
The Pokémon placed their Escape Orbs away in their bags for safekeeping.
"Pokémon…onward!" commanded Aggron.
The five teams split up to take separate routes up the mountain. Gallade and Rylan took the route furthest to the left.
"Can you run, Rylan?" Gallade asked.
"Yeah," Rylan responded.
"Alright. Don't waste your energy," said Gallade, "but try and keep up with me at a somewhat brisk pace. We need to get up this mountain quickly with as few fights as possible."
"Got it," said Rylan. Gallade started to walk faster, Rylan keeping up behind him.
The two of them were making excellent progress as time passed. After about half a day of traveling, they had not encountered a single enemy. They had even found a safe spot devoid of aggressive Pokémon where they took a moment to rest and recuperate.
"Don't get too comfortable with this just yet," Gallade said as they resumed their journey. "We've made it pretty far up the mountain, but just because we haven't encountered any Pokémon yet doesn't mean we're not going to encounter any later. Stay focused."
"Right," said Rylan.
Not a moment sooner did the two of them hear a loud roar in the distance.
"Almost as if it was right on cue," Gallade chuckled. "I hope you're prepared."
Gallade and Rylan continued to scale the mountain. It was starting to get much colder as they climbed. Gallade took two blankets out of his bag and gave one to Rylan to wrap around himself.
"I believe we're entering Ice Pokémon territory now," explained Gallade. "We have the advantage of type, but they're still dangerous."
Snow frosted the higher reaches of the mountain. It was falling relatively calmly, but as the wind started to pick up, the two of them could sense that a blizzard was approaching fast.
"Ugh, I hate blizzards. Too hard to see in this mess…" said Gallade.
Rylan was struggling to keep up with Gallade at this point. He wasn't used to such cold, and he couldn't use his Fighting Pokémon instincts to help navigate through the wind and snow.
He hurried his pace and returned to Gallades' side, trying his best to fight off the cold. Before he could take one more step, however, a shadow came into focus at the corner of his eyesight.
"Rylan, watch out!" Gallade quickly shoved Rylan out of the way as something landed near them, causing the mountain surface beneath them to tremble.
"I can't see!" Rylan said. "What is it?"
Gallade was at a loss for words. He was staring straight up at something, but it was hard to distinguish what it was against the gray sky.
"K-Kyu…" Gallade stammered.
"WHO GOES THERE?" asked a tremendous voice. Seconds later, a large gray dragon came into view. It was hard to tell exactly how close and how big he was due to the blizzard, but he looked menacing nonetheless.
"Kyurem!" Gallade shouted. "Please, don't attack us! We mean you no harm!"
"Kyurem?" Rylan asked.
"I-I've never seen him before… I've only heard about him in stories," said Gallade. "He is an immensely powerful Dragon Pokémon."
"THE BALANCE OF NATURE HAS BEEN SHIFTING," said Kyurem, "AND THAT SHIFT HAS BECKONED ME HERE TO THE SOURCE. GIRATINA IS BEING CONTROLLED, AND THE ONE RESPONSIBLE IS ON THIS MOUNTAIN RIGHT NOW."
"The culprit is here on this mountain?" asked Gallade.
"CORRECT," said Kyurem. "I MADE THE INSTINCT-DRIVEN INHABITANTS OF THIS MOUNTAIN RELOCATE THEMSELVES SO THAT I MAY SEEK OUT AND ELIMINATE THE CONTROLLER."
"That's why we haven't been encountering any Pokémon on our way up?" Rylan asked.
"Relocate themselves?" Gallade asked. "But that would put our friends in danger! They may not be able to handle that many Pokémon!"
"THE BALANCE NEEDS TO BE RESTORED," said Kyurem. "YOU ARE NOT OF THIS MOUNTAIN AND THUS NEED TO BE ELIMINATED."
"But we didn't do anything to Giratina!" Rylan shouted.
"I CANNOT TAKE THIS CHANCE, TRUTH OR LIE," said Kyurem. "ONE OF YOU HAS DONE IT AND I MUST WEED THAT ONE OUT. PREPARE YOURSELVES FOR AN EVERLASTING FROZEN SLUMBER."
"Rylan, I hope you're ready for this," said Gallade.
Rylan wasn't too concerned with being ready or not being ready. The very presence of Kyurem was scaring him senseless. He had never fought a legendary Pokémon before.
"Rylan!" Gallade shouted. "Please, assist me! I cannot do this alone! I'm afraid, too, but we must fight back!"
Rylan stood up and shook the snow off of himself. Gallade was right. Rylan was getting tired of submitting to fear. Gallade had never let him down before, and the last thing he wanted was to let Gallade down. He wasn't about to let Kyurem target his allies.
"I'm ready," Rylan said, joining Gallade at his side. His voice was trembling with terror, but he refused to back down.
"We don't wait for our enemies to strike," said Gallade. "We bring the fight to them!"
Gallade and Rylan charged toward the majestic ice dragon.