"No we weren't." said Aludra. "Don't worry Rigel, we wouldn't go without you."
"Thanks Aludra." Rigel said. "So, which way are we headed? I was thinking we could go through those mountains off to the south."
"I can't think of anywhere better," said Tarazed. "So that sounds good to me."
"Me too." said Aludra "Well, I think it's decided, we go south. Personally, I'm done standing here, so how about we get going?"
"Impatient as always, huh?" Rigel said as he turned to the mountains and looked up at them, smiling. "Alright guys, let's go see what we've been missing." He then began to walk towards those mountains, followed by Meissa, Aludra, Tarazed, and Gauss, his mind filled with images of what could lie beyond them and hopes for the future.
The group walked through the forest for about an hour before reaching the mountains, and Rigel felt like he was discovering it all over again. He noticed things that he normally would have gone by without thinking about, small birds flying through the air, Zigzagoon and Lillipup running through the bushes, the occasional call of something he didn't recognize, now that he was about to leave this place, he wanted to take in every tree, every sound, every small detail of the forest he had lived in for his whole life. Leaving the trees, the group walked into the mountain's foothills and went higher and higher into them, far past the point where the green-yellow grasses ended, leaving rocky ground with patches of taller grass sticking up here and there.
"I wonder what's over this mountain." Meissa said as she walked. "Hey Gauss, have you ever been out of the forest?"
"Affirmative." Gauss said in it's usual monotone. "This unit has been in many locations, but memory files have been damaged. Detailed information can not be found."
"Well, that's ok." said Meissa. "I'd rather find out about these places myself anyway."
Soon the group reached a rise in the mountain path they were walking on, and looked down to see much of the path winding it's way through the rugged terrain of the mountains and disappearing over the top of an even larger rise. They also saw many pokemon they had never seen before going about their lives below, things like groups of Aron searching for metal, Geodude and Roggenrola hiding in the rocks, and Numel grazing on the sparse grasses.
"Looks like we've got quite a way to go." Tarazed said. "It sure is weird, looking around without seeing a single tree. Hey guys, I just thought, what are we going to eat? There doesn't seem to be many berry bushes around here."
"Oh crap, I didn't think about that." Aludra said. "I guess we'll either have to find some bushes or go hunting for something."
"Hunting for what?" Rigel asked. "I think the only thing we could hunt would be those yellow things over there, because the only other things I see are either really heavily armored, or they're just rocks. Besides, I'd rather not do any killing."
"Well, we don't really have much choice." Aludra said. "You don't want to go hungry, do you?"
"No." Rigel replied. "But I don't want anything to die because of me."
"Fine then." said Tarazed. "I guess Aludra and I will do it. What should we go after?"
"I'm thinking the yellow ones." Aludra said. "They would be much easier to bring down, and the other ones look like they would be too tough."
"Ok, yellow one." Tarazed said as he flew off toward a stray Numel. The Numel continued to graze as Tarazed drew nearer, but let out a loud cry when he descended and dug his talons into the Numel's back. Tarazed struggled with the Numel, pecking at it's head while being shaken around by it's thrashing, but let go and took to the sky again when he saw red light coming from within the hole on it's back. The Numel started to spout fire from the hole at Tarazed as he circled, keeping him at distance. "Hey Aludra, could you help here?" Tarazed yelled. "I can't get close!"
"Fine, but I think we have bigger problems." Aludra said, pointing at a charging Camerupt. "I guess hunting is not really appreciated here." She then formed an Aura Sphere in her hand and threw it at the Camerupt, striking it in the face, which only made it angrier. Suddenly, the furious Camerupt reared up on it's hind legs and came back down hard, causing the ground to shift and cracks to appear below Aludra, who dove out of the way as a large mound of earth erupted from below her. Tarazed then flew behind the Camerupt and dug his talons into it's flank, distracting it long enough for Aludra to deliver a jumping knee to it's face, provoking it even more. "Rigel, I know you didn't want to get involved in this," Aludra yelled. "But we can't do this ourselves!"
Seeing the trouble his friends had gotten into, Rigel hesitated for a moment before charging at the Camerupt while focusing energy to his teeth and jumping onto it's back, biting over and over. Soon, the constant onslaught of bites, kicks, and claws became too much for the Camerupt, who's body shook as it released a burst of lava high into the air and finally managed to get Rigel and Tarazed off. After landing on the ground and getting to his feet, Rigel fired a Psycho Cut at the Camerupt, who was too slow and injured to get out of the way. As the blade of energy was about to strike the Camerupt, Rigel closed his eyes and quietly spoke to it. "I'm sorry." He then cried out loudly as pain wracked his mind and body.
