And then she heard it. The pounding of a hundred hooves. A brown river beelined straight toward them from the distance. A stream of horns and whipping tails and muted bellows. Dust rose from either side. The sound of stone beating against stone. Hrruuummmm! Hrooooommmmm!
The bellows trembled beneath her feet, traveled up her legs, shook her very core.
"Climb the trees!" she shouted.
"No time!" Blanche argued. "A measly tree trunk won't stop them."
Candela watched as the herd of Tauros made their way through the forest, not even bothering to jump over or dodge the rocks and trees. They rammed straight through them. They didn't even slow. Rock shards and wooden splinters littered the path.
Spark clapped his hands together. "I know! If we show them we're friends, they won't kill us!"
Candela exclaimed, "Are you out of your mind?"
"What? Maybe they got spooked and all they need is some gentle reassurance. You with me, Quill?"
Jolteon zipped into the bushes and disappeared.
"Hey, don't bail out on me now!"
Candela clenched her fists. A bead of sweat trickled down her neck. This was no time for talking!
She turned to Victreebel, but before she could do anything, Blanche cried, "Dewgong! Ice beam!"
Finally, some action!
She waited.
But, strangely, the attack didn't come. The Tauros weren't slowing. They hadn't even been hit. She spun around, her jaw gaping in disbelief.
"What the-"
A wall of shimmering ice stood tall behind her. She saw her own startled face a hundred times in the shards, peering out at her, reflected by the dozens against the mirrors.
Candela touched the barrier. It held firm, the coldness nipping her fingers.
Then she kicked it.
"Hey! I know you can hear me! You'd better let me in there!"
No answer. She pounded on it with both fists.
The Tauros were closer now, much closer. She could hear their braying, see their wildly rolling eyes. She grit her teeth. Guess it's up to me now.
"Victreebel, Charmeleon, use leaf storm and flamethrower. Don't hold back!"
"Vi!"
"Char."
She flung up two more Pokeballs. "Flareon, join him with your flamethrower. Shoot it out as far as you can. Gengar, double team! Distract those Tauros and lead them away from us!"
"Flare!"
"Gen!"
Bursts of red-hot flame rushed out. They blasted forth in crackling torrents, meeting the Tauros head-on. Victreebel's howling gales fanned them even bigger, blooming angrily in burning red blossoms. Needle-sharp leaves burrowed themselves into the Tauros's pelts, as swift as rain, nearly too fast to see.
And yet…
they...
didn't stop...
running.
They were close enough for her to make out the whites of their eyes. Something struck her as odd.
The eyes looked dead. Empty. They didn't blink, didn't even seem to see, yet they kept on charging in her direction. From the mountains of dust came zipping blurs of purple darting in between their legs. Gengar's double team. But the Tauros didn't seem to even notice it!
Spark said, "Guess there's no choice." He tossed a Pokeball. "This one's bound to stop 'em! Thunderbolt!"
A Raichu hurtled itself into the air. Yellow sparks crackled in its fur, and before it hit the ground, it curled into a ball and squeezed its eyes shut.
"Raichu!" it cried. White lightning ripped its way out and surged toward the stampede in a blinding explosion. Instantly, the entire woodland was lit up inside itself, so bright she had to look away. Bright flashes danced behind the darkness of her eyelids. It was dizzying.
Candela grinned triumphantly. Those suckers are toast! She opened her eyes.
The grin melted away.
The herd was still running. The last of the lightning snapped and fell away. It was as though nothing had even happened! They didn't cry out, didn't stumble, didn't even flinch.
Spark blinked, flabbergasted, too shocked to speak. Candela desperately pounded on the ice barrier.
"Let me in, you ass!" she screamed. She hissed under her breath. Why am I even asking her for help? The bastard's head is too high up in her own rear.
She called her Pokemon back into their Pokeballs. Spark's eyes widened, then crinkled in confusion. "W-What are you doing?"
"Solving this on my own. Thanks for all your help," she added sarcastically.
Then, "Charmeleon, use smokescreen!"
Before the rolling smoke covered everything in sight, she held a breath and shut her eyes. Groped blindly for Charmeleon's paw. Once she had a tight hold, she rushed the two of them away. A thick, choking fog crowded around them, pressing down on her shoulders. Her legs churned thickly. It was like running through a swamp. Her lungs heaved for breath. She shoved the urge away.
Keep on moving, keep on moving.
A pulse pounded in her temples. Her ribs seemed impossibly tight, crushing her. Her lungs screamed. Every step was dizzying. Light-headed.
She couldn't take it any longer. Desperately, she made one leaping jump, legs parting wide. Landed. Nearly stumbled. Candela covered her face in the crook of her elbow, the smoke lapping at her hair. Thick and churning.
Her lungs threatened to burst. Her mind was shrieking at her. Air! Air! Air!
Candela couldn't do it. She couldn't run any longer. With a large heave, she opened her mouth wide, inhaled-
-and breathed in sweet, sweet air.
The smoke was far behind her now. Above the throbbing of her head, she could make out the pounding of many hooves. Charmeleon let go of her hand. Tipping its head to one side, it asked, "Char?"
Its worried expression was so much different from its usual scowl.
After gulping in a few more breaths, Candela gave a shuddering chuckle and squeezed its shoulder.
"I'm fine, I'm fine. Look, it's all crooked now." The bandana around its neck was more gray than red now, covered in dirty soot. She adjusted it.
"There. You're handsome again."
"Char."
The ground shuddered beneath them, rumbled and groaned like a giant beast. She dropped to a crouch. Charmeleon did the same.
The Tauros bulleted past them, hidden behind the smokescreen. When the earth finally stood still again, the smoke lifted and the last of the stampede was trickling away.
She stood up.
The ice wall shook. Cracked. Krrsh. The cracks spidered out in jagged fingers. For a few more heartbeats, the barrier kept its stance. Then, in a great cloud, it shattered into tiny, glittering shards. Charmeleon growled when the white-haired woman stepped out.
Candela stomped over and jabbed a finger in her chest.
"What's the big idea?" she fumed.
Blanche blinked slowly. Gingerly, she brushed the hand away. It infuriated Candela to see her so calm.
"You could have helped! You could have gotten out your Blastoise or Magikarp or whatever dumb thing you had and fired at them with your water cannons! But no! You had to hide behind a hunk of ice like a weakling!"
She glowered and hissed, "I hate weaklings."
Blanche pushed her out of her face. In a matter-of-fact way, she replied coolly, "We both know that even my Blastoise couldn't stop them. Even the Instinct's Raichu didn't leave so much as a scratch."
She flipped her hair over one shoulder and lifted her chin. A silent challenge. Candela wanted to shove her fist so hard into her skull that it cracked.
Instead, she crossed her arms over her chest, controlling herself with a deep breath.
"And let me guess," she sneered. "You wanted to see me trampled. That's what all you Blues are like." Her voice turned spiteful. "No heart at all. You revel in the pain of others. That's what you are."
She still remembered her mother standing proudly against the sun, hair billowing out behind her. Then a white flash. Darkness.
Blanche's gaze hardened.
"I assure you not. I was merely testing your strength to see if I made a good judgement in making you my ally. Apparently, I was wrong."
Candela spluttered, "You expected me to take on a whole herd of Tauros on my own?"
From the undergrowth came a rustle. Then a cough. The top of a blond head. Then Spark stumbled into view, coughing, dusting the smoke from his clothes. He carried the annoyed-looking Jolteon under one arm.
"You're still alive," said Blanche. "A pity."
"Yeah," he coughed. "Thanks to the smokescreen, they didn't notice me at all. What, like, what happened? You normally don't see them attack without reason."
Candela said, "It's been like that lately. The Pokemon's been acting weird. Don't tell me you hadn't noticed."
"Char!"
Charmeleon dashed away, flames already curling from its mouth. In an instant, a Tauros thundered into view. A straggler, left behind from the group.
"Get back, Charmeleon," Candela said. She tossed a Pokeball. "Vine whip!"
Spark ducked just in time as the vines shot over his head. They wrapped around the Tauros. It went down in a cloud of dust.
Its legs churned uselessly, its tongue dangled out of its mouth, and its eyes were glassy and unfocused. Its flanks heaved. Its breathing was labored.
"This doesn't look right," Spark said, brow furrowed.
He reached out to stroke its muzzle. It reared back. "What are you guys going to do with it?"
Candela held out a Pokeball, empty this time. The Tauros vanished in a red beam.
"I'm taking it to Ark Town," she replied, pocketing it. "Maybe the doctors'll have some idea of what it is. Hey, where are you going?"
Blanche didn't even glance back when she said, "Continuing on my own. It's better for me, I think."
"You wanted me to do all the dirty work while you sat back and watched. Is that what you do back at your headquarters? You sit in an air-conditioned room on a swivel chair and bark out orders? I bet that's what you do. I bet you stay inside all day and force your henchmen to work their pants off."
The insults were thrown like sharp-edged rocks, but Blanche didn't react. "I know I would've defeated the Tauros easily." She stopped and cast her a chilly look. "Perhaps if you trained harder, you'd be able to surpass me one day." Then she turned and left.
Candela seethed, "Who the hell does she think she is? She was the one who begged me to help in the first place and-gah!" She grit her teeth and furiously ruffled her hair.
Spark raised a hand. "Sorry to interrupt your temper tantrum, but you guys were working together?" He laughed awkwardly. "No one's ever dreamed of that. I mean, a Mystic and a Valor together? The three Teams have always been separate. It's how it's always been."
"I know," she grumbled. Her hair was a mess. "But I was desperate. The Pokemon are suddenly going nuts. Both trained and feral ones. They start attacking everything they see."
"Really? Good thing Quill'd never do that. Right, girl?"
"Hisss."
"I'm serious," Candela snapped. "You don't know how many people and Pokemon I've lost that way." She eyed him up and down. "And if you want to laugh, then it's best if you just go home."
"No, no! This is important to me too. I still have to find my Pidgey. With what you're saying, it's not safe for him to be flying around."
"Hmph. I guess we should stick together. We'd have more of a chance that way. But remember that I am not your friend."
'Of course. To Ark Town it is." He jumped. "Wait. But that's several miles from here!"
"You got a problem?" Red flame streamed out from the Pokeball. In a few more seconds, a streaking mane fluttered in front of them. A single, sharpened horn. Blue hooves.
The Rapidash greeted her with a whinny. A red ribbon was wound around the base of its tail. It pawed the ground when it spotted Spark, and the boy jumped when it raised its horn.
"Easy," Candela coaxed. "He's too stupid to be much of a threat." In one smooth, practiced motion, she swung her leg over its back and heaved herself up. She grinned smugly down at him.
"Um," said Spark. "There's enough room for one more person, so…"
He started toward them, but Rapidash shied away.
"How sad," she said. "Guess I'll have to go on without you. Good luck on finding your Pidgey." She smiled. "That is, if the rogues haven't gotten to it yet."
Something shone in the boy's face then. It startled her. Almost enough to make her slide off her horse. Because the face should have been one of anger. Of fury, even, of hatred. Candela remembered the story of how unstoppable Team Instinct had once been, many decades ago, before she was born. How its people had ravaged the cities and towns, leaving buildings in heaps of rubble and trees, overturned. How they were as power-hungry as the lightning in the heavens, shooting off like electricity to destroy everything they could lay their claws on. Souls as black as rain. As merciless as a thunderstorm, roaring and thrashing no matter how much the screams begged them to stop. And the story told of how it was Team Valor that had finally put them in their place, setting down paper-thin borders that were shaky and skeletal, but nevertheless still there.
The look on the boy's face was strange. It was not one of unbridled, storming rage.
Instead, it could have been disappointment. Hurt, even. Or sadness. It had passed his face so quickly that she wondered if it had only been a trick of the light. But the face had been so open, so raw, that it squeezed her in a painful way.
Briskly, she ordered, "Take me to Ark Town."
The Rapidash set off as a trot. Then it broke into a full-blown gallop, its mane streaming out in the wind, heat curling around Candela but careful not the burn. The forest turned into a blur. Hues of brown and gray flashed past them. Candela did not look back.
I won't fall for it, she thought. Good-for-nothing Yellow. He won't fool me.
Rapidash's hooves moved so fast they barely touched the ground. They were a white streak blazing through the forest. A burning glow, as though a star had dipped down to the earth.
Then a faint sound. Over the whistling of the wind. She strained her ears.
"Do you hear that?"
Rapidash snorted.
"Get ready."
Every nerve was alight and ready. She tensed. It was closer now. Closer. Then closer still, until she could almost feel it, whatever it was, hovering at her neck.
She brushed her hand over Rapidash's neck. At the signal, the Pokemon gave a flying jump and twirled around in midair, flames leaping, wavering. It met the opponent head on, fire emptying from its mouth.
Candela's gaze widened. She tightened her grip. "Wait!"
Too late to stop. A ball of fire flew toward him, a glowing red arrow.
"Woah!" he cried out.
Just in time, his Dotrio swerved sharply to the right. The fireball whizzed past him. Dotrio kept running until it was neck-to-neck with Rapidash.
"Hello!" Spark said, flashing her a bright smile. He gave Dotrio a pat. "This is Cerberus."
Candela was too shocked to reply. She blinked a few times. Her mouth gaped open, but there was nothing to say.
Rapidash snorted and pressed closer against Dotrio, trying to run it off the path. The three heads squawked indignantly.
"Stop that," Candela said. Rapidash grumbled under its breath.
The bird was keeping up with the speed surprisingly well. She arched a brow. "That's an awful shade of yellow."
A bowtie was wrapped on the neck of the middle head. It looked deeply offended.
Spark whispered, "Shhh, she's just jealous."
A little louder, he said, "Since we're traveling together, I just think we should get to know each other. You've already met Quill. She never listens to anything I say because she's a spoiled brat. Here's Cerberus. Thor is my Raichu."
"I'm actually not very interes-"
He held up his hand and ticked each finger as he continued, "Then there's Mr. Bean, my Electrode. I found him as a Voltorb next to a dumpster. I also have an Arbok called Medusa. She likes to hug people. A lot. A kid nearly died. She tries her best, though. And last but not least, there's Rhyperior. I named her Susan."
Candela stared at him.
His tone suddenly changed, and he seemed serious now. "So you think an organization's behind all this. Making all the animals go berserk? Could it be Team Rocket?"
She shrugged. "Who knows? Actually, I'd be surprised if it wasn't them."
He finally fell silent. Candela was relieved. It was as though a fist had slowly been crushing her chest; now it let go, and she could breathe again.
The boy scared her. Just a little. He wasn't like anyone she'd known outside of her Team. He didn't leer at her. He didn't spit at her. He wasn't like anything in the stories. Her heart nearly stopped when suddenly, a thought crossed her mind. Why, he didn't even hate her!
In her head, she saw herself and him walking side-by-side, laughing together, chatting for no reason other than for the feeling of talking to another person. The thought shook her. It made her light-headed.
In another universe, could they have been friends?
Rapidash tossed its head. Only then did she realize how hard she was clutching its mane.
"Sorry."
A shadow had fallen over the boy's face. He sat hunched over, shrunken, his fingers fiddling nervously.
He said, "What'll they do to Stormy?"
Candela had crossed the line long ago, from the moment she had allowed herself to speak to Blanche. She was only heading deeper into murky water, into an unknown sea where sharks lurked and danger swam. She ought to keep quiet. Ignore him like he was just a rock, a piece of scenery. They weren't friends. She wasn't doing this for him, but for herself. For her people. For her Team. Candela would do anything to protect Team Valor, even if it meant sacrificing her pride at the hands of Blanche.
So it came as a surprise, a loud roaring surprise, when she found herself saying, "I doubt they'd take a Pidgey."
He perked up, the sadness washing away. "You think so?"
"Your Pokemon are all weak, anyway. Unlike mine."
"Oh?" He grinned. "In that case, I challenge you to a battle!"
His enthusiasm was child-like. She chuckled. "Maybe. Once this is all over."
The trees gave way to open the blue sky above them. "I'll show you how strong Team Valor can be. You have no idea, kid."
Spark threw his arms up. "Whoo! Let's go, Cerberus! Full steam ahead!"