"Reluctantly crouched at the starting line, engines pumping and thumping in time, the green light flashes, the flag goes up, churning and burning, they yearn for the cup" - Cake "The Distance"
30 Here in Suspense
Yacaeli was, once again, outraged. She paced around her cave, twitching occasionally. How? How had Yata failed so miserably? She should have known better than to lay trust in a human. Something created by the hands of Arceus could never be truly trusted.
She quickly dismissed the reminder that she was also created by Arceus.
Suicune thrashed in his sleep, moaning softly. Yacaeli felt his nightmares, and grinned evilly at how terrible they were. Traitor. He deserved every ounce of pain Yacaeli's mind could give him.
"He doesn't look like he's sleeping very well."
Yacaeli growled and spun around. There was that human she had taken from the others, the one that never opened his eyes. Brock, she was sure his name was. He was bleeding from various scratches she had given him, and sat limply against the wall of the cave, but he still found the urge to speak and smile like an idiot. "Have you not learned yet, human? I can kill you with one swipe of my paw. I suggest you watch yourself."
Brock the human laughed. "If you wanted to do that, I would have stopped talking a long time ago," he chortled.
"I'm only keeping you alive until your friends arrive," she snarled, glaring. "After that, you'll be the entertainment."
He smiled at her. "Then I'm going to use my tongue as much as I can while I still have it."
Yacaeli could only growl in frustration. Her claws slid out and dug themselves into the floor of the cave. Perhaps it was time she killed something, if only to ease her growing fury.
Where was that damned Pikachu? It needed to die anyways. Killing it would certainly bring her some relief.
Another sneer of anger escaped her. She hated Arceus. She hated the fact that she could only kill with her jaws and claws. Her abilities were useless if she wanted to end something's life. Currently, the only things she could kill were Suicune and the overly happy human.
What a difficult choice. Suicune, the traitor, or Brock, the worthless human? No doubt killing Suicune would be more satisfying, and almost certainly shut up the human. Yes… Suicune would die.
As the Pokemon writhed in his sleep once more, Yacaeli unhooked her claws from the dirt and attacked.
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Absol and Tenebri drank deeply from the waterfall's pool. They had been going hungry since all the wild Pokemon had vanished from the mountain, and it was disheartening to see the pool so void of fish. However, they were undeterred in their quest. Yacaeli was going to fall, and afterwards, they could eat.
"How does Yacaeli survive if all the other Pokemon are gone?" Tenebri wondered, trying to conceal her curiosity.
Absol looked towards the sky. "When the moon is in the sky, she feeds off its energy. Or off the energy of others around her. Like a parasite." He spit the last word with such venom that Tenebri actually flinched back. A second later, her face split into a grin.
This was exactly what she wanted. If Absol took care of the Sky Cat for her, all Tenebri had to do afterwards was take the Genesis Stone. She was not bound to the mountain, or by any restrictions as to how she could kill. She had recognized these as Yacaeli's weaknesses, and knew she would be without them.
They kept trotting up the mountain, passing a dead human and a Glameow. Tenebri didn't give them a second glance.
Not much longer now. Tonight, at the very most.
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I was sick of it. Sick of riddles, sick of death, sick of the mountain, sick of it. We had lost three humans, a few Pokemon, and every bit of sanity we'd arrived here with. I had a murder weapon welded to my wrist, which I now had to coil it up and carry it because it kept getting caught on things. I was careful to avoid touching the handle.
Murderer. That's what I had become. A murderer. Never, for as long as I lived, would I ever be rid of that. I will always have killed a person, no matter how unintentional or defensive it had been. People would murmur that about me when I walked by.
"Did you hear? That's Ash Ketchum. He killed some poor girl on a mountain with a whip handle."
"Oh yeah. I stay away from him as much as I can. Never know when he could lash out again."
Any particular reason you're torturing yourself?
I jumped again. Now Adara, my grandmother, was talking to me. I thought it'd be odd if I called her "Grandma" right off the bat, so I stuck with Adara. Yes, Adara. I like to wallow in pain and misery. Now go away.
Did you understand what Cináed told you?
No, I huffed angrily. Did anyone?
Oh, Adara said with surprise. Then there's not much I can do.
I rolled my eyes and snapped back with a sarcastic comment. Jeez, I just love you guys, you know that?
Do you want to hear what I can do? Adara said snidely.
I almost laughed. Go ahead.
You're going to get wet.
For some reason, the vagueness of her help didn't surprise me. I didn't bother trying to figure out if it was figurative or literal. If I was going to get wet, then fine by me.
"Hey."
I turned my head. Drew was walking beside me, tenderly examining the bandaging job Dawn had done of his face. He winced every time he touched his cheeks. "Hey," I replied.
He took a shuddering breath. "Um… I need to talk to you about… this." He gestured to the world around us.
I arched an eyebrow. "What about—" I mimicked his gesture, "this?"
Drew cast me a nervous glance. I decided that whatever this was, it couldn't be good. "I… I can't take this anymore," he murmured. "I've lost so much. I'm scared, Ash. Yacaeli is too much for me. I'm… ah, how can I put it delicately? Jumping ship, I guess."
His words sent me into a spiral. Didn't Cináed say something similar? About… courage?
My brain decided that then was a good time to remember what Drew had said his name meant. Courageous and manly. And courage was about to "jump ship."
Sometimes, life was too literal.
I blinked. "Drew, what are you talking about?" I exclaimed. The others were engrossed in Max, who was desperately trying to hide the fact that he was crying. I figured they could handle him while I took care of Drew. "You can't let us down like that. May would never forgive you for deserting your team. And that's what we are: a team."
Drew just shook his head. "May is dead. I don't have to worry about pleasing her anymore. I'm taking Max and I'm getting off this mountain. That's the least I can do for her."
"Don't go," I whispered. I was pleading now, desperate to prove my father's words wrong. "I need you here with me, Drew."
He glared at me. "You have Misty. I don't have anyone."
"I know, but…" I was shaking, and I felt as if saying it aloud was only going to make it come true. "But I feel as if I won't much longer."
This shocked him. I looked away, aware that my worst fear was almost definitely going to come true. I was insanely scared, and now that I was letting Drew in on this fear, I couldn't be the great hero/leader anymore. Not when I didn't even believe in me.
Pikachu jumped on my shoulder with a soft grunt. "Pika!" he greeted cheerily.
I glanced at him, unable to stand seeing his happy smile, and looked away. Unfortunately, this meant I looked at Misty instead, which was just as bad, so I focused on straight ahead. I could honestly feel us getting closer to Yacaeli.
Well, you did it. I didn't think you'd prove me wrong, but you did.
I didn't even bother replying.
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Time seemed to pass differently in the meadow than it did in the real world. Paul had fallen asleep a while ago, and his dreams contained awful nightmares of things he didn't want to see.
He saw Dawn, mostly, in fatal situations while he could do nothing to help her. He saw himself a few times, broken and bloodied, but that didn't bother him as much. He also saw his Pokemon and friends hurt or dying, which also shook him, but Dawn was the worst. Which was probably why she kept popping up.
Paul hated these dreams. Why couldn't he dream about happy things, like kissing Dawn or being with his father again or listening to Reggie ramble about Arceus knows what? Those were what his normal dreams consisted of. He missed his normal dreams.
How about a dream that didn't have any dying? That would have been nice. In fact, that would have been spectacular. But the nightmares were relentless.
He woke a while later, though he felt as if he'd gotten no sleep. The Sky Warriors were already awake, and had set out a breakfast of berries and crackers. Where they had gotten them mystified Paul, but he wasn't about to complain. Food was food, after all.
Shakily, Paul made his way over to the birds and sat down. He grabbed a handful of berries and a few crackers and quietly nibbled on them. He didn't feel hungry; not after dreams like last night's.
"Nightmares?" guessed Polevous.
Paul said nothing in reply, merely nibbled on his cracker.
The fact that May had had nightmares was painfully obvious when she took one look at the Sky Warriors and screamed. Bellemistis did not approve of this and looked rather miffed, but Avious chuckled. "What was it this time?" he asked, laughing.
May forced herself to calm down. "Um," she began, "you guys ate us in our sleep."
Red woke up with the imprint of flower stems on his face. He rubbed his eyes, grumbled something about bad dreams "again," and was silent.
Polevous smiled sadly. "Yacaeli has a specialty for nightmares," he said gravely. "She was made from dreams, and has even more control over them than the regular ghost. She is… an interesting combination of Types."
"Where do you guys come in?" May asked curiously. She was still wary of the birds, and made a point to sit on Paul's other side, farthest away from the Sky Warriors.
Bellemistis snorted at this movement and looked pointedly away. She folded her birdlike arms indignantly, making no effort to hide how much she disliked the humans.
Avious was much more open. "She created us," he said conversationally. "Turned us into an army to defend her against Arceus and his army of everything else. There used to be hundreds of us." He gestured to the white bird. "Polevous was the commander. Bellemistis and I were the top warriors, thanks to our special abilities. She made us so that we could always sense when there was danger to Yacaeli. We did something wrong, I suppose, and Yacaeli killed all the others in front of us. Then she took our souls and put us here, so that we would suffer for eternity."
May blinked in shock. "What did you guys do?" she asked.
Polevous waved away her question. "It's not important. What is important is the fact that your friend here thinks we can get out of here alive." He fixed Paul with a testing glare.
Paul continued to nibble on his cracker, ignoring the sudden attention. He was never the one to come up with the plans, just to make the ideas. Usually Ash or Reggie did the rest.
"Well?" Bellemistis snapped. "Any comment?"
He shrugged and began to decide what berry to eat first.
"Well, we can't do anything from the inside," May said with a smirk, "but we still have people on the outside."
Polevous suddenly looked panicked. "This person on the outside," he said carefully. "Does he have black hair and carry a yellow mouse on his shoulder?"
"That he does," Paul replied.
The great white bird's face broke into a rather beaky smile. "Then Yacaeli is in grave danger."
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Brock was already on his feet and rushing towards Yacaeli, determined to protect the defenseless Suicune. But he was forced to leap out of the way of the great cat flailing as she fell backwards. "What?" she growled, rolling so she was back on her feet.
Brock was wondering the same thing. However, the pink creature disappeared so fast that he didn't have time to register what it was.
Or, moreover, he didn't have time to believe his eyes.
"Get away from him!" he heard a feminine voice shriek. He saw the blur of pink came flying at Yacaeli.
"That's right, Mom, leave him alone!" cried another. This time, a streak of green and white went rocketing at the Sky Cat.
Brock hit the deck as the blur of green came back for round two. He looked up cautiously, trying to see what was attacking Yacaeli. It wasn't until the blurs paused to try and wake Suicune that he was able to truly confirm his suspicions.
Softly pink and floating, Mew nudged the Suicune. The Suicune didn't move. Shaymin even bit its ear, but to no avail.
These maneuvers allowed Yacaeli to recoup, and, as they were distracted by the Suicune, they didn't see her oncoming attack.
Brock did.
He ran at the Sky Cat, leaping on her back and locking his arms around her neck. She roared in fury, flapping her wings and shaking her great head in an attempt to throw him off. But Brock held steady, and it wasn't until she rammed into the cave wall that he finally relinquished his hold.
With a gasp, Brock tumbled off her back. He remained on the floor of the cave, panting for air. In a heartbeat she was standing over him, teeth bared in a vicious growl. "Human," she snarled. "Do not meddle in a fight amongst family members."
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I had no idea where the day had gone. Granted, we had slept far too long in the first place, but… shouldn't it have stayed light longer? The sky was darkening around us far too quickly, and it only added to my anxiety as we approached the summit. The air got colder and colder the higher we climbed.
Strangely, the light of the unseen moon was brighter here. It seemed ironic. We were to freeze, but the moon would still shine down on us.
I could hear Max sniffling somewhere behind me, but I didn't want to look. Pikachu was riding on my shoulder, and he seemed far too calm. I didn't like it at all. Was he already under Yacaeli's control?
Suddenly, Brock's voice floated down to us. "He doesn't look like he's sleeping very well."
I felt some weight lift off my chest. Brock was still alive. Thank Mew.
Yacaeli growled something in response, and Brock laughed at her.
Abruptly, Pikachu stiffened on my shoulder. I glanced at him and saw that his eyes were locked on the heavens. I followed his gaze, and for the briefest of instants, I saw two figures floating in the air, silhouetted in the moonlight. One looked strangely like a person. Just as I was trying to focus my eyes for a better look, they vanished.
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Max wiped his teary eyes, which only made them itch more. Everything was going wrong. May was dead. Ash had just killed Yata. Killed her. The thought made him feel queasy.
And his eyes would not stop itching. Tears kept swimming in his vision, trying to ease the annoyance, but the itching continued. He pulled off his glasses, making the streaks of light vanish, but also blurring his vision. As if it wasn't bad enough with the tears and itching. He hated not being able to see.
Drew had been thinking about taking him and leaving the mountain. Max had overheard him with Ash. Max didn't like this idea. To think that Drew would abandon the others in this hour of dire need was appalling. Had Drew come to take him, Max would have thrown the biggest fit of his life to stay.
After rubbing his eyes some more, to no avail, Max put the glasses back on his face. There were the blurs of light, paths he was meant to follow up the mountain, but he remained in the group. Dawn and Misty were on either side of him, a source of comfort. He plunged his hand into his pocket, searching for the round, smooth ball that held his prize Kirlia. It had pained him so greatly to hurt it yesterday. He would make sure he wouldn't ever have to do that again.
Psst!
Max jumped, much to Misty and Dawn's surprise. For a moment, he thought Leaf was talking to him. Until the voice spoke again, inside his head.
Max, they whispered.
Max took a shuddering breath, trying to remain calm. Hearing voices did not ensue for this kind of mindset, though.
Your sister has a message for you.
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May smiled at Avious. The bird gave a rather unnerving smile in return. Then he closed his eyes again and continued his telepathic message to the outside world. This was his "special ability."
"Tell him to make Ash angry," she whispered to Avious. They didn't want Bellemistis to find them and start screaming at them. "As angry as he can."
Avious nodded. "A fire fueled by rage," he said knowingly, "always does the most damage."
*AN: I'm sorry this took so long. Cory Doctorow's new book came out and commanded my attention completely. And internet was down.
I recently realized that Ash is named for two cities in Idaho: Ashton and Ketchum. Isn't that funny? That might not be what the translators were intending, but that's what happened. Anyways, I'll see you next time I update. Hopefully. We are VERY close to the end, and to 200 reviews, so let's achieve these goals together! Thank you for reading and reviewing and I love you all. Ciao.*