Author's Note: Although I made a promise last chapter that this one would give insight into Blood's past, I was unable to incorporate that part into here because it would have been slightly too long (over ~4500 words). I deeply apologize if I have let anyone down. However, the next chapter will certainly be about Blood, and I truly hope you will enjoy this one nonetheless. I put quite some thought into writing this one, and I hope it adds to the richness and depth of the story.

Like I said before, this story will soon be coming to an end (but not before several more chapters of what I hope will be very enjoyable, excellent writing!). As always, thank you for your support and your reviews. This story was the result of considerable time and effort, and if you have enjoyed reading it, I do not regret the labor I put into this story about a little Minun and his quest to find his destiny.

One night, I awoke to the sound of faint whispering.

It had been an exhausting day; my first thought was to ignore the voices and go back to sleep. But something out of the usual was happening, and I was uneasy. Besides...the last time I knew something was terribly wrong was when I first realized something was wrong when Plusle was hypnotized by the egg.

Grimacing at the thoughts, I got out of the little niche that made my bed, and went into the hallway. Trying not to stumble over anything in the darkness, I followed the muffled voices, towards the main chamber. To my relief, the glowing light of Flame's tail revealed the team members, all huddled together, speaking in voices barely above a whisper.

I stood at the edge for a while, straining to listen and catching traces of their conversation: "...think he might be out for a while...just relax...shh, you might wake Minun up! Let the little one sleep...". Curious as to what they were talking about, I stepped out of the shadows and tapped Flame on his back.

"Whaa!" He roared, spinning around in a circle and just barely missing me with the flaming tip of his tail. "Something touched me! A ghost! A ghost type- help!"

Then he saw me, and crumpled in a heap. "Nevermind."

Shelly and Alexis were laughing uncontrollably, and some of the others were grinning. "Hey, buddy," the hitmonlee, called Lucas, said. "Don't be so disappointed in yourself! At least you aren't afraid of the dark anymore!"

Flame seemed downcast, and I patted him on his back. He turned to me and smiled slightly. "Don't worry about me - I'm like that no matter what I do. Timid, as my mother used to say. It's my nature."

"Yeah, a timid charizard. Thought you'd never see one, eh?" Lucas was saying.

"Hey, mudface, lay off him," his nidoking friend shot back. They pretended to fight on the floor.

We watched as they hurled insults and pawed at each other, exchanging mock swipes and sucker punches. "Anyways," Flame said, "You're probably wondering why we're here."

I nodded. "Where's Blood?"

Before Flame could reply, Shelly cut in: "He's been gone for a while. Outside in the snow, apparently."

Alarm flooded my heart. "What-why? Where is he?!"

Shelly smiled at my concern. "It's so cute how little Minun is always so concerned about him!" She said to Alexis, who winked playfully at me. I ignored them as Flame explained where he was.

"Blood occasionally leaves the base," he said. "We're not always sure where he goes, but we follow his order to stand vigil until he comes back."

"Stop making him nervous," the nidoking said, pinning a struggling Lucas to the cave floor. "He's gone off to the mountains, maybe have himself some fun in the snow and forget about us for a few hours. He'll be back before you know it."

Flame nodded. "Blood is usually just taking walks around the mountainside. But occasionally - about once a year, I suppose - Blood disappears until sunrise. Really, we have no idea what he's doing - only old Seamus would know, so if you really want, you can go ask him. He's just outside the entrance standing vigil with Serena."

I nodded, thinking about how forgetful Seamus was. He was a grand old gyrados, but despite his age he had immense power. I often saw him blowing boulders to pieces with powerful streams of water, and he routinely defeated Flame, as well as the nidoking, who never stopped challenging him, only to be beaten again and again. But Seamus never seemed to remember anything anyone told him for long, and I doubted he would recall what Blood was doing so far away from the base.

"Why don't you go ahead and talk to him...it might quell your concern about Blood." Shelly suggested, but even before she was done I was already heading towards the entrance. Huge boulders blocked the way, as they always did, but I felt a draft of cold air, and I knew there was a hole somewhere. I checked around the base, and after a minute of looking, I found it: a tiny, narrow passageway between two huge rocks that was just wide enough for me to squeeze through.

Outside, the air was so intensely cold that it chilled me to the bone. The sky was beautifully clear, and the freshly fallen snow sparkled in the pale moonlight. It covered the ruins of the castle like a thick, shimmering white blanket. Beyond the castle walls, I could see some of the mountains across from ours looming up in the distance, shrouded by the thick fog that permeated the drop between the mountainsides.

Trying to stop my teeth from chattering, I turned to see the smiling form of Serena in her sleep, laying against one of the ancient castle walls right near the entrance. She was small for a nidoqueen, yet I knew she could destroy whole groups of wild pokemon with only a few swift, steady attacks, and for a moment I wondered how she would react if I were to surprise her right then. Most likely, I would be immediately blasted through the wall opposite to her before I knew what was happening, since despite her calm manner, Serena often attacked before asking questions if she thought that she, or any of us, were in danger.

I turned around to look one last time through the small space and into the warm, lit chamber where the other team members sat around Flame's tail flame, telling stories and musing about "little Minun" and how he always "cared so much about Blood".

Maybe it was because we spent so much time together, or because out of all of the team members, we seemed to share the most in common, but it was true: as I trained with him day after day...I grew to care immensely for him, and any sign that something was wrong with him would make me worry for days on end. In fact, sometimes, I couldn't understand why the others didn't even show any concern for him even when it was obvious something bothersome was on his mind."He's a lonely creature, aye, they all are," the nidoking once said when I'd asked him. "He's bound to figure his own problems out, if ya give him enough time and space. Best to leave it to him till then."

In a way, my concern for Blood separated me from the other team members. Often, I was the only one to ask him what was wrong, or if he was hurt, or how I could help. Blood never thanked me, at least not in the way most others would. He never gave me honorable mentions, or left me little presents, or promised me any favors.

But seeing him smile as I figured out new, ingenious solutions to fight the relic (or sometimes even the other teammates), watching as he leapt on top of boulders around the main chamber to deliver his invigorating speeches encouraging us to do better and aim higher, and hearing him laugh with the others as we sat around telling jokes and poking fun at each other after a long day of rescuing pokemon or training against each other...to know he was healthy and well despite all the hard work he did and the sacrifices he made for us gave me a kind of joy that I couldn't explain. It was a kind of joy I hadn't felt since Evie...since Plusle.

I knew Blood would give up his life for all of us without hesitation, and he was already doing more for us than anyone had done before. To me, that was a greater form of thanks than any words or present could convey.

"Going somewhere, Minun?" I heard the soft voice of Serena ask, bringing me out of my thoughts. I turned to see her, still leaning against the wall, the same quiet smile on her face.

"I'm going to find out where Blood went," I replied. "I want to make sure he's safe." She nodded slowly, a knowing smile on her face. "As usual, you are so caring when it comes to Blood. I admire that. However, I will tell you this: he is safe. A master of the wilderness, especially of the snowy mountains like Blood is, will not be injured easily. I trust his skill, and I trust his experience. But...if you really do desire to find out where he has gone, I suggest you talk to old Seamus."

She lifted a claw and pointed at the sleeping form of Seamus, curled around the ruins of what was once a tower. He was a giant, even more so whenever he rose to his full height, but even when he was sleeping it was hard to grasp just how massive he was. His lumbering form coiled around the tower like a huge snake, covered in freshly fallen snow, and slowly rising and falling as he slept.

"But before you go..." Serena said, "take this berry." She produced from a pile behind her one of the spicy, bright red berries that Blood gave me every time we crossed the frozen river on our way to the hollow. "Do not worry, I have quite a few, as you see. They have been keeping me warm for the night, and I hope they will do the same for you."

I took the berry from her huge, outstretched hand and started trudging through the snow towards Seamus, who showed no signs of being awake, or even alive, except for his slow, voluminous breathing. Serena noticed my predicament, and with a friendly wave told me to get out of the way. I obeyed, backing up until I was well out of range, and she launched a hyper beam that cut clear across the castle yard and hit Seamus directly on the head.

Seamus roared so loudly that the rock beneath my feet seemed to shake. He reared his head, rising up on his thick body. The noise brought several of the team members out to find out what was going on (though they went just as quickly back in when they saw there was no one except the three of us). Luckily, Seamus looked down and saw me, or else he might have decimated the whole area around him, wiping me out of existence. Lowering himself until his face was as low to the ground as he could manage, he stared at me, his nostrils flaring warm, steamy air right at my face.

"What does little Minun want in this hour of the night?" He questioned almost to himself. His eyes seemed to glaze over as he struggled to think within the deep recesses of his mind. "I suppose there is no other reason except he wishes to know the whereabouts of leader Blood."

I nodded. Seamus turned his head to stare at the entrance of the castle ruins. "Leader Blood departed through the exit several hours ago. As snow has recently fallen, he must have left a trail behind him. If you wish, you may follow the trail. However...I caution you, as I do not know how long the journey could be. Are you sure you wish to proceed?"

Again, I nodded - it wasn't as if I could shout enough so Seamus could hear what I said. He nodded, thinking, and finally seemed to reach a conclusion. "Very well. I wish you...the best of luck...Minun..." He struggled to finish the last words, and slumped back down to the ground asleep.

Turning to look one last time at Serena, who waved goodbye, I took my first step outside of the old stone gate that marked the entrance to the ruins. The fresh snow crunched under my foot as I walked away from the ruins, and with it, the pokemon I had known for so long.

I was alone, following the trail of a pokemon who, no matter how much I learned of him, still remained a mystery to me. Somehow, it almost felt like I was stepping into his past, walking where he had once walked, thinking thoughts that had once been his, following in his steps as he journeyed to his destiny.

Over hills and down mountainsides I went, for what seemed like an endless trail to infinity. The trail was usually steady and sure: the footsteps of someone who knew what they were doing and where they were going. Other times, they were erratic and hurried, almost as if he were running through the snow as fast as he could, dodging boulders and leaping over jagged, sharp rows of rocks that lined the slopes that he traveled along.

Once, he even appeared to stop and pace around in a circle several times, before bounding forth and continuing on his way. After a while, I stopped trying to understand his motives and what he must have been thinking. It would forever remain a mystery, like much of him.

My paws had long since numbed over, and I could no longer feel them. The cold was slowly seeping into my body, moving upwards past my legs and inwards towards my heart. I knew the landscape, no matter how brilliant and breathtaking, was a silent killer for those who ventured into the mountains unprepared. It was a terrifying sort of beauty: a fragile silence hung over the rugged mountains, interrupted only by my heavy breathing as I struggled to labor through the snow.

Maybe it had been a mistake. I didn't know why I ventured out into the cold: of course, I'd told the others I wanted to make sure Blood was safe. But deep down, I knew that wasn't the reason. It was far from the real reason.

But what was the real reason?

Thoughts swirled around in my head. Was I going because I wanted to prove myself to the others, even to the world, that I was no longer "little Minun"? Was I going to test what I had learned and put into practice what I had trained to do under Blood's guidance?

In truth, I knew it had nothing to do with myself. I was going because I wanted to find out why Blood had left in the middle of the night, trekking through snow, over steep hills and down harrowing slopes, where even one misplaced paw could send you sliding down the mountainside uncontrollably. Still...it was also more than that. Like the others, I wanted to find out about Blood, about who he was and what his past was like. Few could not be curious about Blood - few could resist the urge to know about him, and about his past.

But I also wanted to understand him. In so many ways we resembled each other - but so many things set us apart. I knew I did not truly understand him, and he did not truly understand me. Somehow, I had the feeling that if I could find him, it would reveal more about who Blood really was to me than I had ever known before.

I stopped, wiping away the top layer of fluffy snow to reveal the packed layer underneath. I sat down in the little spot I made and watched the moon and feeling the invigorating feeling of the berry coursing through me. Tonight, the mountains were peaceful...but I was not. I was on a journey. And there was still a ways to go.

Determinedly, I surged forth, following Blood's steps with a renewed vigor. For a while, they had been slowing down, each one closer to the next - it was almost as if he knew he was close to where he wanted to be, close to finishing his long journey. The trail went up a steep slope full of precarious cliffs and jagged rock faces, topped off by thick layers of snow. I followed his steps - instead of slowing down and navigating the narrow trail carefully, he sped up instead, bounding over snow-covered boulders and making sharp turns barely an inch from a hundred-foot fall and along with it, certain death.

Soon, I was so high up that I could see the tops of smaller mountains. The peak of the mountain where our base was located was but a small tip in the distance, covered by a larger mountain that loomed in front of it. I distinctly remembered carefully picking my way along the lower slope of its side, my heart in my throat, just waiting for my foot to go through a thin cover of snow and into a cave. Only then had I truly walked in the steps of Blood, and that decision probably saved me from ending up in one of the numerous pits created by air pockets underneath the snow.

Finally, I could see the top of the steep slope in sight. I willed every last bit of strength I had left into my tired legs and continued to climb, one foot after the other.

Soon, it would be over. Soon, I would find Blood. And soon, I would learn the reason why he went over hills and down mountainsides, traveling alone in the middle of the night, on a journey that was shrouded in mystery.

When I finally reached the top of the mountain, I saw a small clearing covered in snow. Several trees grew at its edge, all devoid of leaves, their skeletons reaching towards the sky, casting long shadows that stretched across the snow. The moon was a huge, pale sphere that seemed so close that I felt like I could reach out and touch it. Its gentle glow bathed the whole clearing in light, revealing the emptiness of the clearing.

There was no one there. The only sign of life were the footsteps, which stretched on and on, past the trees and the snow, all the way to the other side of the clearing. From where I stood, it almost seemed like Blood had walked straight into the moon, which loomed just barely above the clearing.

Then I heard a voice, as crisp and clear as the snow, and all too familiar to me: "Minun."