"So go and riddle me over, I'm a man got nothing to show for, my work in the ground. Got my back to the fire, but it ain't the bridges that are falling down" - State Radio "Riddle in Londontown"

27 Riddle Me This

Brock turned his water bottle upside down, hoping for a small drop. Nothing came. "Uh, guys," he called, "I'm kinda out of water."

Drew tossed him his bottle. "Don't drink it all, I'm low too."

Running out of water was the worst thing that could happen to us remaining survivors. Dying of thirst… how awful would that be?

I didn't voice my fears, remaining silent until everyone was ready to go. I gathered up my few things and we headed out the cave.

Leaves were everywhere. They blanketed the ground in a green carpet, making the hard mountain trail soft underfoot. I didn't know how bad my feet had been hurting until I remembered what soft felt like.

Misty was watching me carefully. I kept my head down, indifferent to her stares as I pondered every dilemma we would encounter. There was the problem of water, food, not to mention the hundreds of tricks Yacaeli had up her sleeve. She was probably planning another one now. Oh Arceus, what would we have to endure next? What the hell were Adara and Cináed talking about when they—?

"Ash?" Misty said.

My thoughts were suddenly cut short. "Huh?" I replied, and mentally kicked myself. Not the most intelligent reply there ever was.

She blinked. "You're being very quiet," she remarked. "Are you sick?"

"What, I'm suddenly not allowed to be quiet?" I snapped.

Misty didn't even flinch. Instead, her face took on a fighting expression. "No, it's just that peace and quiet is so rare around you that I immediately wondered if there was something wrong."

"Does that mean my talking annoys you, Misty?" I asked furiously.

"Oh no," she said with feigned innocence. "Just that you never shut up."

I never wanted to hit a girl so much. I couldn't believe this was the same woman I wanted to confess my undying love to and kiss so passionately that she would never think of anything else. Love is a pain, isn't it?

"For your information," I said, sick of arguing, "I was trying to figure out our survival for the remainder of our time on this Arceus forsaken mountain. Sure you want to keep bothering me?"

Misty shrugged. "Depends. If that's the reaction I get, I'm through."

I nodded. "Good. Want to help me solve a riddle?"

She put on an expression of fake exasperation. "Ugh. Fine, what is it?" she said sarcastically.

I smirked. "I had a dream that the badger was next. What does that mean?"

"Did anything else happen in this dream?" Misty asked, trying to hide how interested she was. Misty loved a good riddle.

"Yeah, actually. My dad told me the badger was next, after going through a bunch of nonsense words, and then my grandmother agreed with him. And it ended."

Her face was priceless. "What?" she said, confused beyond all reason.

I sighed. "I thought you could help!" I glanced at the yellow mouse on my shoulder. "Didn't you think she could help?"

Misty was about to retort with something vicious, but Leaf unintentionally interrupted her. "Waterfall," Leaf announced.

The term "waterfall" set off all sorts of alarm bells in my head. I instantly thought of the water falling down the side of the mountain and trying to sweep us away. "Where?" I cried in panic.

Leaf pointed. "Right there."

She was ahead of us, pointing to where I couldn't see. It seemed like everything important on this mountain was where I couldn't see. I went to stand next to Leaf to see what she was pointing at.

What I saw took my breath away.

It was a beautiful, enchanting waterfall. Silver blue water cascaded from the summit into a shimmering pool. It was crystal clear, smelling of the freshest air, and made only the softest shhing sound.

"Wow," Dawn gasped.

I didn't allow myself to be captured for more than a second. What if it was another trap, like the glass castle? That was beautiful, too, but how could I forget the monster of bodies lurking inside it? I shuddered at the memory. It wouldn't have surprised me if something similar were hiding on the other side of the falls.

"Look," Drew said. "There's the peak. See? The top of the mountain! We're almost there!"

"I'm going swimming!" Misty called, already rushing towards the water.

My eyes went wide with fear and I raced forward, looping my arm around Misty and pulling her back. I felt like a cowboy lassoing a colt. "Don't just run in like that! It could be a trap! Maybe the water's poisonous and it'll burn your skin off! Great Arceus, Misty, are you freaking crazy?"

Misty paused, then met my worried gaze with a glare. "Fine," she spat, and she unlatched my arm from around her. "Test it, then let me know."

I exhaled in relief. Misty was only being mean because I was right. I wanted to test the water, make sure it was safe, because then we wouldn't die of thirst. But if it wasn't, we were dead for sure.

Suddenly, a blur of pink went flying by, followed by one of green. They circled us three times, and then disappeared.

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"Here Jessie," Meowth said. "I gotcha more water."

Jessie drank deeply. "Thank you," she said forcibly. "James needs some too."

James was finally awake, but he was in a lot of pain. Meowth held the makeshift bowl he had made from the plastic of the balloon under James's chapped lips. He swallowed a little bit at a time, as his scalded throat could only handle so much. "M-more please, Meowth," he begged.

Meowth nodded and scampered back to the waterfall. He cupped the plastic in his paws and dipped it in the water. The crater in the plastic filled with the sparkling water.

There was a noise. Meowth jumped, but he did not lose his grip on the plastic. There were others here. His ear twitched as he listened.

"…are you freaking crazy?" someone shouted.

Was that…? No, it couldn't be! But if it was, they could help Jessie and James…

Something rocketed past him. He lost his balance and teetered into the water, landing with a splash. He started yelling. "Ya stupid dimwit doncha know that I'm a CAT and that cats hate WATA? Get me outta here right this instant before I go and drown!"

"Can it, freak!" called a voice.

Meowth scowled. He looked up in the air and saw a streak of pink go soaring over his head, followed by a tiny blur of green. "Who ya callin' freak, ya flying hedgehog?" he countered. He continued to grumble as he flailed his way towards shore, shook himself off, and went to find the twerps.

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Mew came to a halt in midair. "Holy me, there are humans here!" She gazed down at the group of creatures that were unmistakably humans, shocked. "Father doesn't know about this!"

Shaymin giggled, doing a roll in the air. "So? Let's just get Suicune and get out of here."

Mew ignored him and continued to look at the humans. They seemed very familiar.

"Stay here," she commanded. "I need to check something." With that, she zoomed down to the ground. She went past a Meowth and caused him to fall into the water, but she decided not to worry about it. Mew took three circles around the group of humans, even the two standing apart from the others, and got a good look.

Shaymin followed her, of course. The turd. She heard him yell at the Meowth. It annoyed her greatly. Why couldn't the little hedgehog just do as he was told? At least listen to her!

Lucario always listened. Shaymin should be more like Lucario.

Mew blinked as she hovered high in the air. Lucario… that was how she knew the humans! When she first met him, it was because of the boy with black hair! And the boy with black hair was also the reason she went to where Mewtwo was trying to take over the world. The boy was pure of heart.

He watched the girl with red hair storm back to the rest of the group, and Mew observed him with interest. Strange how he always showed up where she happened to be. Why in her father's name would he be on this mountain?

Mew made a face. "Come on, Shaymin," she said, not even looking at the green hedgehog. "Let's go kick our mom off her mountain."

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"What was that?" Dawn asked, looking around wildly. She and Leaf were utterly confused, and at any other time it would've been comical. But right now I was about to start copying them. I had no clue what the heck had just flown past our heads.

"Probably another one of Yacaeli's traps," Drew growled. His fists clenched and began to shake. "When that cat shows her face, I'm going to kill her."

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Yacaeli dug her claws into the mountain. Her rage was reaching a boiling point. Her senses were blurred by her anger, and it just made her madder. She could feel Arceus; feel that he wanted her gone. And the humans not more than two hundred feet from her summit were enough to set her off.

She bared her teeth to the sky, a low growl escalating into a tremendous roar. Every Pokemon on earth responded with fury and the lust for blood. It didn't matter whose.

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Pikachu cringed and slid off my shoulder. I jumped and knelt down next to him. "What's the matter?" I cried.

He seemed to convulse, and his tiny body spasmed. Panic flooded me. Was he dying? No! Not Pikachu too!

The rest of my pokeballs began to quiver on my belt. Misty's were already breaking free, escaping in bright flashes of light. Drew dropped his bag in fright, trying to avoid his now rogue Pokemon as they stampeded out. Brock and Dawn's were still fighting, but Dawn's Piplup was already out and attacking her.

Pikachu suddenly flipped over and bit at my face. I jumped back, narrowly avoiding his advance. My other Pokemon were bursting out of their pokeballs, and I could hear them going on the attack.

Something growled. I heard Drew scream in pain. I whipped my head around and saw him clutching his arm. His Absol had bit him.

Drew gave a mighty kick and the white Pokemon went flying. It hit its head on a rock, and it went still.

I felt a shock of pain go through me, but I was used to Pikachu's electric attacks. He leaped up, landing on my shoulder, and it looked like he was getting ready to bite me.

Hurriedly I twisted, knocking him off. I hated to do it, but clearly he was trying to kill me. My Quilava attacked me from behind, and searing hot flames burned my back. I fell backwards, landing on it hard. Staraptor came to its defense and perched on my chest. My eyes went wide when I saw this, and I writhed to avoid his vicious beak. Instead, he stabbed into Quilava.

Quilava let me go in pain from Staraptor's beak, and I punched the bird in the face. He recoiled and flapped his wings, sending him skywards. I rolled off of Quilava, dodged Heracross's horn, and bowled into Dawn's Togekiss.

The Pokemon skidded through the air, and Dawn jumped to her feet. "Thanks!" she called. She gasped and bent out of range of her Mamoswine's deadly horns. Her hand curled around her knife.

I left her to defend herself and looked for Misty. She was fending off her Corsola and Starmie at once, and doing just fine. Brock was keeping his Sudowoodo at bay while he bashed his Croagunk on the head with his backpack.

Max was pinning his Kirlia to the ground, and it clearly pained him to do so. Leaf had a Pokemon that kept changing fighting with her. I realized it was a Ditto, mimicking all of our Pokemon.

"Take dat, ya doity twoips! And dat! And dis!" someone was yelling.

"Meowth?" I said, shocked.

He landed in front of me, paws ready to attack. I cocked my head to the side, confused, because he didn't have any claws. "Dat's right, ya little pipsqueak. Get ready for da beating of your life!" He launched himself at me.

I sidestepped the attack and the cat went careening past me. There were more pressing issues.

Pikachu skidded in front of me, kicking up dust as he came to a halt. The fiercest expression rested on his face. There was no doubt in his mind that he could kill me, apparently. No doubt in mine, either.

"Pika!" he cried, and his cheeks sparked. His entire being began to flash. I winced, knowing the pain that was going to come. I had to time my maneuver just right or I would be barbecued by my own Pokemon.

Then, for some reason, Pikachu's face went blank. He stopped flashing with electric power, sat on his haunches, and did nothing.

I blinked. A stunned silence filled the air. All the Pokemon had ceased fighting, backed off, and sat down uselessly. I blinked again. No way had it just ended like that.

And then the bracelet got really, really hot.

Evidently, the danger I had just been experiencing with my Pokemon hadn't been life threatening. Whatever was coming next was going to wreak havoc on our little expedition group.

I heard a strange sliding sound, like a stick being scraped in the dirt times a hundred. When it stopped, a few pebbles landed in the water. So it had come from above. I looked up.

The waterfall still fell as silently as possible. Rocks jutted out around it, making ledges that were far too accessible from above. Which was how Yacaeli came down the mountain.

She was as magnificent as the legend had described her. Glorious white wings unfurled from her creamy back, poised for flight. Even from down below, I could see the shine of her moonlike eyes. Unnatural designs swirled up her legs, and they seemed to glow. A stark black stripe was visible, beginning at the crown of her head.

Yacaeli smiled, as strange as that sounds. Her bright eyes glistened with rage. She opened her deadly lion jaw, and legitimate human speech came out.

"Hello," she said. "Having a good time?"

Oh great. She had a sense of humor. I just love foes that rub their superiority in your face. The fact that she was standing above us the way a dictator would made me bristle with fury.

Brock, ever the comic, had to respond. "Yes, actually. Getting mauled by my own Pokemon is a favorite pastime of mine."

Yacaeli's eyes glared at him with such anger I thought he would erupt in flames.

"Wonderful," she said, deciding to ignore him. "You haven't gotten water yet, right?"

"Don't answer," Misty growled.

"Not a drop!" Brock replied enthusiastically.

Yacaeli's face twisted into a sick smirk. "Good. I think I'll grant you one more challenge before you come to meet me." She waved her tail. A golden mist seemed to form out of the air, and sprinkled itself over the water. "A riddle to keep you busy while you pine for water."

"A riddle? That's it?" Brock cried.

"Brock," I muttered, warning.

"Listen to your friend," growled Yacaeli. "He's smarter than he looks."

I made a face up at the cat. "Thanks," I called.

She paid me no mind. Brock had pissed her off enough. "You will not drink until you solve the riddle," she said. Suddenly, she jumped off the ledge.

I panicked, ducking down with the hope that she would crash into the ground and perish, but that's not what happened. Yacaeli snapped out her wings at the last second, and ascended upwards. I heard her laughing as she flew away.

"Holy shit," Drew mumbled. He was getting back to his feet shakily, having hit the deck as I had. "That cat's crazy."

"Brock?" Dawn cried, fear alive in her voice. "Where's Brock?"

I jumped to my feet. We can't have lost another one, I thought. No no no not Brock too.

My eyes searched the skies. I wanted to see that devil Yacaeli and tell her exactly what I thought of her and her little—

Wait. Was she carrying Brock?

Yes, she was. Yacaeli had the Breeder dangling from her paws. He was flailing and fighting, but it didn't throw off her flight at all. They continued to climb, until they disappeared in the clouds and I could see them no more.

Somewhere around there, I remembered the meaning of Brock's name.

"No!" Meowth cried. I looked down and saw the cat Pokemon kneeling by the water. He tried to scoop his paw down, but it was as if he kept missing. "What am I gonna do? Jessie and James are gonna die!" And then, the cat started crying.

It was about the most pitiful thing I had ever seen. He sat on his tail, tears streaming from his eyes, and bawled like a hungry baby.

I couldn't just stand there and watch him cry. Forcing an encouraging smile, I knelt down next to him and placed a comforting hand on his back. "Hey," I began, and he looked at me. "It's going to be alright. We'll just solve this riddle and get going. Sound good?"

Meowth sniffed and wiped his nose. I was reminded of Max. "I'm trusting you twoip. If dis doesn't woik, I'm takin' your Pikachu and handing him to Giovanni on a silver platter."

I made a wry face and nodded. "Sure, sure, whatever makes you happy. Now how do we hear this riddle?" I stepped over to the pool, staring into the depths. The water looked no different than before.

Drew was over by the body of his Absol. "Oh God," he said, and he choked off a sob. "I killed it. I killed Absol."

So many things had happened at once. Misty was consoling Drew, Max was freaking out because Brock was gone, Dawn and Leaf were confused, Meowth was crying, and all the other Pokemon were just sitting around like dolls. So, at the moment, no one seemed to have their head on straight, save for me, which wasn't really an asset.

I stared at the water, and it rippled with the flow of the waterfall. Disbelieving, I extended my hand to reach into the cool depths. My hand seemed to be afraid of the water, bending this way and that to avoid touching it.

My eyes narrowed as I glared at the water. We needed it so desperately, or we would die or at least be weak when we reached the top of the mountain. I felt a little ridiculous, but I took a deep breath and spoke to the water.

"Um… oh great pond of water, show us the riddle, so that we may, er, drink from your crystal depths."

I hadn't really expected it to do anything, but to my surprise the water rippled and began to wave. Shimmering golden letters appeared, wrinkling in the water. The riddle faded in line by line, moving so much in the water that the letters looked blurry to me. But I managed to read it, and this was the riddle:

There's not a creature beneath the sky,

Can keep secrets as faithfully as I

All things for safety are to me consigned,

Although I often leave them far behind

I never act but by another's will,

And what he commands I must fulfill

"Oh that looks friendly," Misty noted. She had brought the severely upset Drew over to sit beside me, granting me company. "Of all the riddles I've seen, that's probably the most menacing."

"I love your vocabulary terms in describing words," I said snidely.

"We'll solve it," Dawn said too cheerily. She came to stand behind me, bending over my shoulder to read the puzzle. Leaf stood by her side, nodding. "We'll get our revenge. Yacaeli will never beat us."

"She already has beaten some of us," I heard Max say; although I think I was the only one who heard him.

Drew was on my other side, nursing the wound his Absol had given him with angry tears in his eyes. "I hate this," he whispered. "I'm sick of being the plaything of a Pokemon with PMS."

My brow knit worriedly. "Drew, I—."

"She's toying with us, Ash," he interrupted, "and you know it."

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Tenebri's eyes were wide with shock. She cowered in the shadowy ledge, near Absol's strong legs. "She just picked that human off the ground," she breathed. "Like a bird snatching its dinner."

Absol stood tall and strong. "She will pay for her crimes," he growled. "I just watched one of my brothers die at the hands of his own Trainer, for something he had no control over. I will never forgive that cat." The Genesis Stone glinted ominously around his neck. "I will strip her of her powers, and then I will tear her throat out, and then I will present her head to Arceus. He'll use her pelt as a rug in the Hall of Origin, and every time I enter I will race over her fur, and I will laugh."

Tenebri looked confused. She tilted her head up to look at Absol, and saw the determined face of a Pokemon who would not give up. A smile began to form on her face. Absol would kill Yacaeli. Tenebri would win.

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Far, far down in the ruined city of Oupavos, the survivors of the Pokemon rampage were struggling to recoup. They stood in sorrow as they gazed at their ruined homes and businesses, at their proud, demolished stadium. They had lost everything, and they were terrified.

A beautiful woman with stark white hair and flashing yellow eyes walked down the street, a rose in a yard of death and destruction. She strolled with ambition, heading for the trampled woods and, eventually, the mountain.

It was the single greatest thing that had ever happened to her. She had been digging her possessions out of her ruined house when the calling came. Yata had felt a probing in her mind, as if someone were knocking on her mental door. Puzzled, Yata had allowed them in, wondering what it could be.

Hello, Yata, they had said. You have grown into a fine young woman.

Yata hadn't replied, just stood there in stunned silence.

I can tell you are surprised to hear from me. Or perhaps you don't know who I am? I am your namesake, child. They call me Yacaeli.

At this point, Yata had felt her legs go weak. She had fallen to her knees and allowed silent tears to flow down her cheeks. Yacaeli was real. And now she was calling on her faithful disciple to serve her. She had even called her a fine young woman!

I need your help, child, Yacaeli had continued.

"Anything," Yata had whispered. "Anything, my goddess."

Thus, Yata strutted towards the mountain, ignoring the stares she got from the "nonbelievers." This was her chance to prove what she could do. Yacaeli had called upon her.

She wasn't about to let her down.

*AN: So, this chapter took a while cuz I went on vacation! Yes, yes, I left the home. This is a special thanks to Amber Ice Fox for feeding my cat and chickens. Love ya, girl! And I will now go to sleep, because I have a lot to do tomorrow. Bye peeps.*