Burning for you - Smoke & Mirrors
#2 of Burning for you
Second chapter time and I'm gonna try to get into it as fast as possible. First though I'd like to thank all of you who commented in my journal entry. I'm eternally grateful for both the praise and the constructive criticism. Also a big thanks to Mysterydude who proof read this chapter for me. You waded through that marsh of slight spelling errors and head asploading grammatical ones to make this a better read. :D
Anyways on with "Burning for you" since I like it much more than Immorality. (Don't ask... I just like the characters and plot that I have in mind better.) I pray that I'll manage to get the fifth chapter up by the end of the week but... We'll see
*Authors note: For the sake of simplicity an apostrophe before and after a sentence denotes thought.
The song that inspired this chapter, (as if anyone cares.) was "Closer" by Lacuna Coil.
Burning for you - Smoke & Mirrors
Ashley sniffed at the air for any trace of whatever had woken her up. The crisp, frozen atmosphere made it hard for her to pick out any scent, and combined with the still windless night, made it impossible to tell whether she had been disturbed by something or whether it was just her mind playing tricks on her.
She tensed her body, trying as hard as possible not to move. She breathed lightly, to make as little noise as possible. Her ears perked up, attempting to catch any stray sound. Sure enough, there was a light but distinct panting, and occasionally the snap of a fallen tree branch as her stalker attempted to move unheard in the woodland.
'I just can't catch a break can I?' She remained tense despite the urge to flee. The Mightyena's love of the hunt would keep it at bay for a while, but eventually it would get bored if she didn't run. That gave her time to plan.
She looked around, not much to use for cover. The forest that she had managed to lose herself in ended here, leading onto a large field-like area. On the one hand she could probably outrun the Mightyena, the downside of course being that she would be completely out in the open. If any of her pursuers knew shadow ball or some other ranged attack, which was likely, she would be done for.
She could always try running back into the forest in the opposite direction, but that would mean quite possibly getting lost again and ending up God knows where. 'This has gone on far too long,' she thought to herself. 'I need to get back to Fyre.'
She had ditched them after only a couple of hours the first time around, and had attempted to come full circle and meet Fyre where she had promised. Things had not gone as planned. These mongrels were faster than she thought, and smarter too. They had waited for her, knowing that she wouldn't leave without Fyre. When she had tried to circle back, they had caught her. She had only escaped by a hairs breadth.
For the past three days, she had been sleeping in short shifts and surviving on the meager supplies of berries strewn around the area. Every so often one of the Mightyena, (for they had split up to scan a wider area.) would find her, and alert the others as to her whereabouts.
It seemed that they had focused upon her as prey and would not give up the chase. She had to find some way of escaping once and for all, or this cat and mouse game could go on forever. Still, her mind went back to Fyre. She just had to trust that he had the common sense to stay alive, whatever it took.
A snarl from the undergrowth snapped her attention back to the here and now. Thinking time was over. She took off as fast as she could, speeding back into the forest as far from the source of the growl as possible.
The Mightyena seemed to take a while to register the movement, as the howl making her position known to the pack took a while to come. Soon after however, the approaching pack could be heard coming from all angles. She put her head down and raced as fast as she could, dodging trees and smaller bushes while trying to keep ahead of the pursuing Mightyena.
The frost on the detritus covered ground bit at her paws and made her wince and yelp occasionally, when suddenly a new scent overwhelmed her senses. The musky smell of the sea spray clogged her nostrils and made her gag slightly.
She kept running regardless, but she was tiring quickly. She slowed, believing that she had gained a sufficient lead to remain ahead of the pack. She could hear the waves now, rising angrily before being beaten back by rocks and slowly retreating to try again.
The howls behind her continued, but she seemed to have lost them for now. She continued walking at a slow pace, hearing the crashing waves get louder with each footfall. She cleared the forest at long last and walked out onto a cliff top overlooking the sea. It was a long way down. At the bottom she could see a small stretch of sandy beach, beyond that the sea waged an endless war over dominion of the land.
'Well that's one escape route down.' She sighed, turning to make her way back into the forest and attempt to dodge the Mightyena once again. She yelped loudly as she turned to the sight of two malicious red eyes looking back at her.
The Mightyena alpha towered menacingly over her. Making sure that she saw every one of its teeth, still red with small pieces of her old trainer lodged between them.
"Hey there beautiful." The alpha spoke condescendingly. "Why did you run so far just to go and get yourself cornered now?" He grinned evilly as he tried to hide the glee in his voice.
Ashley looked to her left and right, either side was blocked by smaller males, both snarling threats at her the whole time. She looked back to the alpha, the confidence lost from her face. Now fear dominated her features.
The alpha had to stop himself from laughing, this feeling of power was just amazing. "Well, one way or the other," He continued. "You've caused me and my pack a lot of trouble lately, in fact you may never get on my good side again." He chuckled at the dark joke.
The Vulpix backed up, glancing fearfully over her shoulder as one of her hind paws cleared the cliff edge, almost causing her to lose her balance. "W-what are you going to...?" She whimpered, suddenly sure that they had a darker purpose in mind than just attacking her like her trainer.
The alphas grin grew wider. "That's entirely up to you precious," He edged closer to her, closing the distance between them. "You see my associates here thought we should give up the chase a long while ago, said there were easier pickings elsewhere, but I think differently. I think you'll be much better than anything else we could scavenge up in these woods."
Ashley shuddered, knowing inside exactly what the alpha was talking about. "There aren't many females out here precious, even fewer of breeding age, but if we had one to... take our frustrations out on..." The Mightyena only let out a barking laugh as he saw the disgusted look cross Ashley's face.
"It's not like you have much choice in the matter. We can do this the hard way... or the harder way." He laughed again at his little quip.
Ashley had made her decision already. After a fall from this height she didn't know what condition she would be in, but it was well worth it to keep her pride intact. She looked over her shoulder again, half-turning so that she was side on to the cliff face. Taking a deep breath she turned to look at the Mightyena again who was awaiting her response.
"I hope you all burn in hell." Ashley closed her eyes and let herself fall.
Fyre woke with an indignant yelp as a painfully loud metallic noise blared from some unseen assailant. He opened his eyes searching for the source of the noise while he flattened his sensitive ears to try and block out the uproar.
The din seemed to be coming from a small creature on the nightstand beside the bed. The thing, whatever it was, displayed some strange symbols in a glowing red light. He waited for the noise to stop, but it persisted, threatening to drive him mad. Irritated, he swiped at the thing with his paw.
The sound of something inside the creature breaking also signified the end of the noise. Fyre allowed himself a smug moment, 'That'll teach you.'
Kat emerged from the bathroom holding a brush in one hand and the hairdryer she had been about to use in the other. Looking between Fyre and the broken device on the floor, she shook her head at him, chuckling. "Well I guess that's one way to turn it off. Never been woken up by an alarm clock I'll take it?"
Fyre shook his head, "I've never heard such an effective screech attack."
Laughing at his innocence, she disappeared back into the bathroom, flicking on the hairdryer and causing Fyre to flinch as another annoying sound replaced the first. Before long the noise died, and Kat returned from the bathroom once again, giving her hair a flick as she came back to sit on the bed next to Fyre.
"Okay," Kat started, pulling on her boots as she talked. She was already dressed, having woken up long before usual. Partly because she was excited about what this day would bring, and partly because Fyre had decided to stretch out and claim the whole bed as his own. "I want to lay down some rules for you to follow as long as you're with me."
"Rules?" Fyre cocked his head. He had never been subject to rules before, his trainers approach to behavior had been more along the lines of, "Do what I say or else."
"Yes," Katrina continued, "As long as you're with me you have to abide by the same rules as any other trainers pokémon to avoid suspicion. That means you're more or less going to have to follow most of what I say. You're also going to have to stick by me okay? No wandering off. Oh and if any trainers ask us to battle you're going to have to fight."
"What? Why?"
"Because that's the law... If a trainer asks me to battle and I own pokémon that are able to, I have to accept."
"But you don't own me."
"Yes but we can't let them know that. They might try to capture you, and then you'd never find your sister, and I'd never get hold of my own pokémon." Fyre seemed to accept this grudgingly.
"Where are we going to start?" He asked, wondering how she intended to find his sister.
"Well, I suppose there's no better starting point than where she said she'd meet you, I'll take it that the campsite you rushed off to yesterday was where she said she'd be?" Fyre nodded. "Great, we'll start there."
"But how are we going to find her? She could be anywhere by now."
"Well... my psychic ability isn't all that powerful yet... but a Vulpix isn't a common thing to see in Sinnoh, even more so around here. Each pokémon lets out a different... some would describe it as an aura. Being siblings should make her aura similar to yours. I'll only be able to search small areas at a time, but still it shouldn't be that hard to find her."
She smiled confidently at him as she explained. He found her confidence contagious and soon he was smiling back at her dopily. She reached towards him and he shied away fearfully. Kat shot him a look of confusion.
"What's wrong? I'm not going to hurt you." She held her hand in the air before him, and he sniffed it curiously. 'What the heck must have happened to him to make him like this?' Kat wondered to herself as he gradually accepted her hand and allowed her to stroke him.
Fyre closed his eyes as he was petted for the first time ever. This was a completely new experience, unlike anything his trainer had ever done for him. 'Maybe I was right to trust her. She does seem to want to help me after all.' He continued to enjoy the attention he was receiving, even leaning into her to get closer.
Eventually Kat stopped petting him and giggled at his whine of displeasure. "Come on, we have to go find Ashley, or we might miss her."
At this Fyre, jumped down off the bed and rushed to the door, waiting expectantly as Kat packed away the things she had removed from her bag and slung it over her shoulder, removing the room key from her pocket as she did so.
She reached the door before stopping for a second. Fyre whined impatiently. She clicked her fingers, realizing what she had forgotten. Once again she returned to the dresser to attach her belt with its single empty pokéball to her waist.
"Okay," She spoke chirpily. "Off we go, and maybe along the way you can tell me about your old trainer." Kat had suspected from the beginning that there was something wrong with Fyre's old master. She had never tried to go that deep into his mind, but any time she got to a point where a memory of the trainer was prominent she could feel his fear and hatred. His earlier fear of her touch was further proof.
Fyre started as she mentioned his old trainer. 'How much does she know? Does she know that I abandoned him to those Mightyena?' It wasn't as if he wasn't justified in doing so, but he doubted most humans would feel the same way. 'Then again,' He thought to himself. 'She's not most humans.'
On their way to the area of the campsite, which Kat informed him was known to humans as route 212, Fyre told Katrina much of his earlier life. He was reluctant at first, to speak about his ex-trainer, but he had known that eventually he would cave to her.
He trusted her far too much for his own good. He refrained only from telling her of his trainers end, she didn't attempt to push the matter. She did seem angry at the way he described his trainer's behavior towards him and his sister, but she continued to listen to Fyre's description without interrupting.
The sharing had not been one sided however. For each piece of information he shared he was rewarded with facts about her life, her likes, dislikes and her views on things from politics to pokémon. Not much of which he understood, but still somehow it interested him to know about her.
They had cleared the city without being so much as spoken to by another trainer. All of them were much too interested in themselves to bother asking for a battle, or why she seemed to be talking to her Vulpix.
Still, there was one factor of her life which she had avoided completely, one of the things he most wanted to know, and now that they had hit the edge of the city and were out of the bustling crowds he felt it was time to ask. "Kat?" She turned to address him. "Tell me how you became psychic."
Kat seemed unsure for the first time since he'd met her. Seeming to decide that she would have to tell him eventually she sighed and turned to begin walking again. He fell into line behind her.
"I was born this way, most of the females in my family are, as well as some of the guys but they... Well," She cast an apologetic glance over her shoulder at him, "The less said about them the better."
"Well is there a way to defend against mind readers? I'm not sure if I like the idea of you being able to just pull anything out of my head... and from what you say there are others who can do it too."
Kat thought about it for awhile, she did enjoy having the ability to read his mind at any time, but if it made him feel uncomfortable then she couldn't in all good conscience deny him what he asked.
"There are a few ways, but the easiest I know of is to think of something and that thing only. If you think about it strongly enough then it will blot out all other thoughts and even the strongest of psychics couldn't wheedle anything out of you."
"Can you teach me?"
"Of course, but not right now. If you stay with me for another couple of nights I'm sure I could show you how to do it. It would probably help you if you were fighting against a psychic pokémon too."
Fyre smiled at this thought. Now he had a reason to go back to her even if they found his sister, something that he now desperately wanted to do. It took him a while to realize that Katrina was still watching him, now with a mischievous smile on her face. "Heh, you know, you can't shield your thoughts yet." She walked on leaving him stunned and embarrassed.
He shook off the comment, 'So I want to stay with her for a little while, what does that prove? I owe her for helping me find my sister that's all.' He had to run to catch up with her, she still wore that smile, and he dropped his head and flattened his ears to his skull in embarrassment.
She only laughed at his shyness. "You don't have to be ashamed you know, I'd love to have you stay for a little while. My family and friends are a long way away, it'd be nice to have some company."
Fyre noticed a slight blush cross Kat's face as she said this, and the conversation died. An awkward silence traveled with them all the way to the campsite.
Ashley gave a long moan of pain as she regained consciousness. There was a freezing cold dampness that came and went every couple of seconds. Fighting through the pain that shot through her, she lifted her head and opened her eyes.
Her vision was slightly blurred, but she could make out the cliff which she had fallen from, as well as a number of jagged rocks which she must have missed by sheer luck. Her head fell back to the sand and she closed her eyes with a shaky breath.
The sun was now high in the sky, which meant she must have been out for awhile. Despite the suns glow, the air was still cold with last night's frost. If she lay here like this for much longer she would be done for.
She attempted to slowly rise to her feet, almost collapsing again as a much more intense pain shot through her right hind leg. She attempted to put pressure on it again and yelped as the pain doubled, the limb was clearly broken.
Turning around and making sure to keep the pressure off her bad paw, she almost jumped back in fear. One of the Mightyena lay in the sand behind her; obviously it had attempted to chase her down... Or the alpha had forced it to.
It was not moving, but as she got closer she could hear it breathing over the thrum of the ocean. Its breaths were short and ragged and it had landed awkwardly, she could see that there was no way of helping it.
As she approached the Mightyena opened its eyes, which immediately focused on her. "You... You're the runt... we've been chasing."
'So he's still together enough to recognize me.'
The Mightyena tried to raise its head, but couldn't. Instead it opened its mouth and let out a long howl. "She's here, the runt is here!"
Ashley glanced around alarmed, the pack was gone, probably off to find another way down. "Shut up," She pleaded with the Mightyena "What good does it do you to tell them where I am, they can't help you... They'll probably kill you if they find you."
"I'm dead already." The Pokémon snarled back. "If I'm going down I'm taking you with me." He returned to his howling no longer caring what the bedraggled Vulpix had to say.
'I have to get out of here before they find me.' She looked up and down the beach. Deciding upon pure gut feeling, she headed east along the coast, wincing at each step as she attempted to put as little pressure as on her broken paw, and as much distance between the Mightyena and herself as possible.
It was pure agony, but eventually she cleared the beach and pulled herself back onto a grassy flatland. It was almost featureless except for a thin river to the north. A small footbridge forded the river and at the far side there were many juicy looking berries.
She felt a glimmer of hope in her chest as she limped towards the bridge. Her revelry was cut short however, by a single piercing howl from the distance. This was not the broken and wavering howl of the half-dead Mightyena on the beach, it was strong and joyful.
Suddenly, it was all too much. Her wounds, combined with her lack of sleep and food, and now this? Her hope died, she was done for, this was it. She began to feel faint and collapsed to the ground only a few feet from the bridge.
'Forgive me Fyre.' Was the last thing to run through her mind as she allowed consciousness to slip from her once again.
Marcus reached up with one, brown furred paw and scratched underneath the back of the uncomfortable mask of bone which he wore. The mask was large and ungainly, but it was the only artifact of his mothers which he owned and he just couldn't bring himself to remove it.
The Cubone picked up the bone club at his side and wondered briefly what to do. Deciding to collect some of the berries which grew outside of his cave, he emerged, squinting at the afternoon sun.
In the distance he could hear the howls of some form of pokémon, obviously on the hunt for some unfortunate pray. Despite having lost his mother at a young age, Marcus's life was not a particularly sad one. All Cubone were lonely, it was just part of their nature. It wasn't that he was unsocial, he just found it harder to make friends than other pokémon.
Across the human-made bridge which spanned the river near his cave he spotted a scruffy mess of bronze fur. As he got closer he made out that it was a Vulpix. It's fur was sandy, wet and matted, but it was still something of a beauty even by Vulpix standards.
Finally coming to rest a couple of feet away from the battered pokémon, he noticed it's mangled hind paw, the rest of the Vulpix, which he noted with a blush was a female, didn't seem to be in too good a shape either.
The howls of the hunting pokémon were getting louder now. 'Could they be chasing..?' He looked again at the poor fox pokémon. It really wasn't his business to interfere with another pokémons kill, but he couldn't just leave her.
Sighing, and knowing that he was buying himself more trouble than he could handle, He held her forepaws in his own and began the arduous task of dragging her back to his cave. Trying to avoid further harm to her already damaged hind paw.
Cru came upon his pack member long before the rest of his pack. The alpha stood over the broken form of his old second-in-command dispassionately. "Which way did she go?"
"East, sir... she went east for many miles. She will not get far, she was in great pain" The dying Mightyena was on his last legs and could barely form the sentence.
"Good job Able." The Alphas tone remained flat as he addressed what remained of his friend.
"Sir... please... Show me mercy, end it."
Cru cocked his head at the pathetic waste of fur before him, pausing to consider his answer. "Did you catch the runt?"
"No sir, but I..."
"Then you deserve this pain," Cru interrupted coldly. "Thank Dialga that you won't survive to see what I'd have done to you if you'd walked away from this." He walked past his fallen comrade, ignoring the disbelieving stares that he received from the rest of his pack who had, by now, caught up.
They would follow him to the ends of the earth, even if he didn't want them to, single minded simpletons that they were. Still, he didn't intend to let that little whelp make a fool out of him. He would track down that Vulpix if it was the last thing he ever did.
Fyre stood whimpering at the top of the cliff while Katrina squatted down nearby pulling in deep lungfulls of air. She had Psychically scanned the area surrounding the campsite when they had arrived, but had found nothing.
They had been walking and looking for another place to search, when suddenly Fyre had stood stock still. He had perked his ears and begun sniffing intensely, his multiple tails tensing with the rest of his body.
Then he had dashed off madly, not bothering to warn Kat, just expecting her to keep up. Reading his mind had only come up with fevered thoughts of a scent that was days old. The trail was confusing, it criss-crossed itself repeatedly and went in circles.
'She must've gotten lost.' The thought was jumbled together with hundreds of others all running through Fyre's head and Kat was forced to read it all while still chasing the frenzied Vulpix.
He had finally come to a halt at the edge of a cliff overlooking the sea. He had sniffed along the cliff edge a number of times, desperately whimpering something about the "End of the trail." All in all things didn't look good for Ashley, but Katrina didn't have the heart to pass this on to Fyre.
Finally regaining her breath, Kat stood up and walked over to the now distraught Fyre and sat next to him attempting to comfort him. Looking around there were various paw prints, some much bigger than a Vulpixs. She thought back to the image of Fyre's trainer.
She had guessed that Ashley must have been chased by whatever had killed their master. Vulpix were smart, but to outrun something so obviously built to be a predator, and considering the number of paw prints something hunting in a pack. "Listen Fyre, I... I know this must be hard, but we've been following this trail all day. Maybe we took a wrong turn... Maybe..."
"No!" He interrupted her, the desperation for support was clear in his eyes. It hurt her to see him like this. "Her scent is strong here, she's been here today. We're so close, we can't give up now."
"I..." Katrina was amazed at how this pokémon was affecting her. She had only known him for a day and here she was, more concerned about finding Fyre's sister than him upholding his end of the bargain. "I think you're right." She smiled at him comfortingly and reached out to pet him again.
This time he accepted her hand without question, pushing himself into her and receiving a hug in return for his affections. He was repulsed by his own weakness and vulnerability, but he needed her right now. "Thank you. I... Don't know what I'd do without you." He looked away as he said it, ashamed at himself.
Kat released him, but continued to scratch under his muzzle soothingly. "Don't worry about it. You don't need to know what you'd do without me because you do have me. Come on now, maybe Ashley found a way down." In truth she doubted her own words but Fyre really needed her support right now.
Fyre nodded and waited for her to stand up and start walking. He kept close to her this time unwilling to go far from his source of comfort. Before long they came across a section of cliff with plenty of man-made foot and handholds. This would make climbing down much easier, if slightly more precarious for any human. Otherwise, walking around the cliff to get to the beach could quite easily take hours.
By almost emptying her bag of the supplies she had bought, leaving only her spare changes of clothes, Katrina finally found a long rope at the very bottom. It was usually used when exploring caves in case she got lost, but it would serve this purpose just as well. Tying one end to a nearby tree and the other around her waist, she gave the rope a couple of tugs to ensure its security.
Fyre watched this process with a cocked head, wondering what her plan was to get him down there with her. "Okay Fyre hop in," Katrina said, holding her bag open.
"You must be joking." He looked at the bag warily.
"Are you prepared to walk around?" Fyre gave a disgruntled whine, but slowly walked over to the bag, climbing inside carefully and attempting to position himself comfortably. The bag was big enough to contain most of his body, only his head stuck out of the top.
Pulling the pack onto her back rather than slinging it over her shoulder like she normally did allowed her to feel the burning heat from his body. It penetrated both the bag and the thin coat which she had decided to wear as it was such a cold day, warming her immensely.
After checking that he was comfortable, she walked to the edge of the cliff and found her first foothold. Making sure that it would support her weight, she stepped out onto the cliff face, holding onto the coiled rope for balance as she began the climb down.
Upon reaching the ground, (Having slipped only twice.) Katrina undid the rope from around her waist and set down her bag for Fyre to get out. He Wandered out shakily, kissing the sand at his feet as he did. "Thank God for the ground. How the hell do flying types do it?"
Kat giggled at the display. "Oh don't be such a baby." He shot her a glare, but soon he was wearing the same dopey smile as before. He found it hard to feel bad around her. She made this so much easier to bare.
Kat laughed again at the look on his face, but her laughter died as she spotted something in her peripheral vision. A black mass of scruffy and sand covered fur lay unmoving not too far away. Whatever it was, it was twisted into an unnatural position.
She walked towards the mass, distinguishing it as a Mightyena she rushed to its side, ignoring the fact that Fyre stood well back, growling at the mutilated pokémon. She knelt down next to the beast, noting its ragged, shallow breathing and ignoring the water soaking her legs. The fact that it was still alive shocked her.
Looking around she wasn't surprised that there were no tracks. The tide had begun to come in and the water from the ocean now almost completely covered the beach. Fyre had to stick close to the cliff face in order to keep dry. The Mightyena itself was half-soaked, half-dry as it lay in the slowly rising water.
"Can you hear me?" Katrina willed the thought into the pokémons head, hoping that it was not too far gone. The Mightyena's eyes snapped open. They were cloudy and unfocused, this pokémon didn't have much time left.
'You... can... speak into my thoughts... How?' The Mightyena tried to articulate, but was too weak and only managed a couple of weak grunts.
"Never mind that. Is there anything we can do?" She grimaced as she looked into its mind, she could feel the extent of the damage. It's neck was broken from the awkward landing and several of the nerves sending impulses to the brain had been severed. That was probably more of a blessing than a curse as otherwise the pokémon would be in all kinds of pain.
The Mightyena would have laughed if he could. 'To help me? Look at me. I'm dead, you're speaking to a ghost, even if I haven't quite gotten around to stopping breathing yet.' His eyes finally focused on Fyre, a hint of recognition appearing briefly. 'That's... that's the runts brother.'
"The runt? You mean Ashley?"
'I don't ask my food its name.'
Fyre couldn't make out the random grunts and groans. "Kat, What's he saying?"
Katrina didn't feel like repeating what the Mightyena had said. "He says he can tell me where Ashley went." After that last comment she had lost all sympathy for the dying pokémon. She drove through the Mightyena's thoughts and memories, finding any that referred to "The runt."
There was a lot to scan through, but eventually she found one thought about a small Vulpix, in bad shape, limping in an easterly direction along the beach. Kat stood up without a word to the Mightyena, dusting wet sand off of her soaked jean legs. It was a real shame that Ashley had decided to head east, there was a pokémon centre not too far west from here.
She sighed and looked towards Fyre who sat looking at her, confused. "Come on."
"Which way are we going?"
"West, we're going to get help for this Mightyena, and then we're going to get some food and rest up for the night." Kat was firm now. There was no way she and Fyre could go on like this. They hadn't eaten since yesterday and had been running around frantically all day. She didn't like it any more than him but it was getting late, and the tide was coming in.
If they went east they ran the risk of being stranded away from the pokémon centre and with no way of collecting the supplies which she had left at the top of the cliff.
Fyre looked shocked. She couldn't be serious, leave Ashley out here? with that Mightyena's pack still roaming around? Kat stuck to her guns. She wanted to help him but there was no way she was going to let him go out there in his condition, especially with the pack of Mightyena she had seen in the dying one's mind to contend with.
The Vulpix headed in the opposite direction defiantly, before stopping with a low whine as he noticed that she was not following. He looked back over his shoulder pleadingly. "Please? I can't do this without you."
Kat refused to follow him. "No. You and me both need food and sleep tonight. We'll search again in the morning, but I'm not willing to risk your health for a couple of hours of searching before we'd be forced to turn back by the tide anyway."
She turned and began to walk westward towards the pokémon centre. Fyre looked desperately between his friend and the sea. Beggining to whimper again. He wished it not to be true, but he could see from how fast the tide was rising that he would be stranded if he stayed out here much longer, and he was not a strong swimmer.
With a final low pitched whine he turned and followed Kat slowly. He felt like he was betraying Ashley, and if she got hurt because he had to rest for a night in a pokémon centre then he would never forgive himself.
Katrina, despite feeling bad for making him postpone the search for his sister, could not help but feel a slight guilty pleasure at the knowledge that Fyre trusted both her and her judgment completely. She pondered briefly on why a Pokémon's opinion mattered so much to her, even if he was her friend. Still, if Ashley got hurt because of this, she didn't know how she'd ever make it up to him.
The Mightyena managed to pull together enough strength to make a final statement. Loud enough for the human and Vulpix to hear he growled, "If you ever do catch up to my pack, tell my alpha, Able will make sure to reserve a spot in hell just for him."
Kat shivered as she felt consciousness leave the pokémon for the last time with its final breath. Its final thought had been one of hate. Certainly not how she'd want to go.
Ashley was surprised to regain consciousness. She kept her eyes tightly shut, sure that the Mightyena must have found her by now and were waiting until she woke up before they ripped her to shreds. But then the alpha did say some things about... 'Oh god, are they keeping me alive just to...'
She couldn't even bear to imagine it, still she forced her eyes open. She gasped as she focused on a skull not too far away from her. She rose to her feet quickly in an attempt to run, yelping loudly as she put pressure on her wounded leg.
The skull opened its eyes at the sudden noise. 'Wait... a skull wouldn't have eyes.' Ashley paused, taking in the whole scene and realizing that the "skull." was in fact a Cubone. Blushing under her fur at her stupidity she approached slowly, figuring that this pokémon must have saved her.
The pokémon rose from its sleeping position and turned to address his guest. Unsure what to say, the pair simply stared, awkwardly.
"So... I'll take it you saved me?" Ashley had decided the silence had gone on for too long.
"Uhmm... Yeah I guess." The Cubone rubbed the back of the skull he wore in an embarrassed fashion. He was clearly unused to company.
"Then thank you, so much. You have no idea what those Mightyena would have done to me if you hadn't... Thank you." She moved closer to him and nuzzled against him to show her gratitude. "What can I call you?"
"I-I, you, can call me Marcus." He stuttered, startled by the show of affection. He was suddenly glad to be wearing his bone mask because he was sure his blush would have been visible even through his fur.
"Are you okay?"
"Y-Yes. Yes I'm fine. Do you need anything?" He regained some of his composure as she stopped nuzzling him. "I set up a bed for you over there for tonight."
She didn't want to impose on him any further. She was still hungry, but he had been so sweet, setting up a bed for her and all even after saving her life. Her stomach had other ideas though and growled loudly, causing Ashley to flatten her ears in embarrassment.
Marcus only laughed, pointing towards a large pile of berries that he had collected from outside his cave after bringing her in. She smiled apologetically, thanking him again before eating. Never allowing her hunger to overtake her, eating gracefully rather than digging in as her body urged her to do.
When she had eaten enough to take the sting of hunger away she stopped, turning to her host once more. "I'm in your debt Marcus. I don't know how I'll ever repay you."
"Really, there is no need. I could hardly just leave you out there could I?"
"Still, I have asked much, and... I must ask more, I need to find my brother." Ashley hated to ask this but she needed help, she didn't even know how to get back to where he had been.
"Of course, I'll help in any way I can," Marcus replied with a comforting smile. "But we'll start when that paw has had time to heal and you've had time to sleep and eat a proper meal. Now get some rest, you'll feel better in the morning."
Ashley felt like arguing, but his point was obvious. She could hardly walk. She smiled back at him, thanking him once more, before lying down in the bed of grass and straw that he had cobbled together for her. Closing her eyes she began to pray for her brother, just like any other night.
Cru stopped a few feet from the entrance of the huge cave. He couldn't see the inside from here but was unwilling to go any closer.
"Sir, what are we waiting for sir?" His new second whined. The ignoramus couldn't even think ahead for his own safety. It didn't surprise him that they refused to let him go, they'd be dead within a week without him.
"Why do you think we're waiting you simpleton?" He snapped back. "Look at the size of that cave. We have no idea what the other pokémon we smelled around here is, and whatever it is it's in there with the runt. If you want to rush in and get mauled by an angry Ursaring or Absol then be my guest."
The lesser male bowed his head and flattened his ears submissively. Cru focused back on the cave entrance.
"Sir... Does that mean... We can look for other prey now sir?"
Cru turned to his idiot pack mate snarling. "Of course not fool. We've come too far to give up now. We wait here until we find out what's protecting the vixen. Then... we'll see."
Katrina looked sadly at Fyre, who sat ignoring his food and looking out of the window of the pokémon centre. Outside, the sky was now dark, clouds covering any light that the moon might have shed on the night.
They had been waiting here for a few hours now and it was driving him insane. Just thinking about his sister hurt. Knowing that she could be anywhere out there. If she was still alive. He tried as hard as he could not to think like that, but he couldn't deny that there was a very real possibility that she was... Dead.
He turned back to look at Katrina, she reminded him of his sister so much. Not that she looked the same; visually there wasn't a single feature that they shared. Well, maybe the kind smile and caring eyes. The main similarity though was how they acted. Both Kat and Ashley cared about him much more than he was worth. Both selflessly helped him when he needed it. He wanted nothing more than to see them both happy.
He shook the thought off, thinking like that would make it seem like he was attracted to her or something. Not that she was unattractive. He checked himself mentally, 'So this is what it comes to?' He asked himself. 'Your sister may very well be in mortal danger and you're struggling to think about anything else than how attractive Kat is.'
He shook himself once again. Even his mental beration wasn't working. He looked back at Kat, suddenly realizing that she could be reading his mind right now. He managed to force the thoughts out of his head.
Katrina, it appeared, had thankfully not been reading his mind. She was caught up in a conversation with Nurse Joy. The nurse was flustered and tired looking, but still managed to keep a cheery disposition and even did her trademark curtsy as Kat said goodbye.
She returned to Fyre's side with a vexed look on her face. Fyre couldn't help but think how cute the look was.
"Thanks! I'll take note of that for when I'm trying to seduce you." Kat laughed as she spoke. Fyre attempted to laugh with her, but it was a half-hearted and embarrassed laugh. His feelings for this human so soon after meeting her deeply confused him.
"Nurse Joy says she couldn't have taken in Ashley even if we had found her. There are a number of cases in which this group of Mightyena has attacked. They're at full pokémon capacity, we'll have to go all the way back to Hearthome if we find her tomorrow... When we find her tomorrow." She quickly corrected herself.
Fyre looked around. With the amount of trainers here it didn't surprise him that, with each owning a few pokémon the pokémon centre was full.
"I did manage to get us a room for the night though. Come on, its number fourteen, on the second floor."
The room was at the top of the stairs on the left. On entering Fyre noted the single bed. He'd be on the floor tonight.
After dumping her bag, which she had resupplied from the poke mart located not far away, Kat sat on the bed with a sigh and removed the coat which was far too warm for indoors. She looked down at Fyre who was sitting at her feet and staring at her solemnly.
"I guess I did promise to teach you how to stop my mind reading huh?" She knew that wasn't what Fyre was unhappy about, but maybe it would take his mind off his troubles for awhile.
Fyre cocked his head, his tails began to wag slowly. After some of the thoughts he'd been having today, being able to block her mind reading would be extremely helpful.
"Okay," Kat slid off the bed, joining him on the carpeted floor. "Now think of whatever means the most to you. Think of your sister."
"Why?"
"The way to stop people from reading your mind is to block out all other thoughts and think of only one thing. That way you can think of other things behind that thought but only the strongest of psychics can penetrate the surface layer. Thinking of the thing you care about the most makes it easier, because it's much easier to block out other thoughts if you're thinking of the thing that matters most to you in the world. Does that make sense to you?"
Fyre thought about it before nodding slowly.
"Good, now close your eyes and concentrate." Fyre followed her orders, thinking about his sister the last time he'd truly seen her happy. Outside of the den, playing with him and the rest of his litter before his ex-trainer had caught them.
This time he felt Kat probe at his mind. The strange sensation sent a shiver down his spine and caused him to recoil.
"I know," Kat called soothingly. "It's because you're focusing on your thoughts, don't worry."
Fyre sat still again attempting to focus on his mental image of his sister.
"You're a heck of a lot better than I was when I started, but... There!"
Fyre felt his train of thought be psychically crushed, and he winced as he felt Kat gain entry to his inner mind. She stopped almost immediately, but he still felt she may have found more about his thoughts of her than he'd have liked.
He opened his eyes again and looked at her. She was wearing that same kind, half-smile that had first caused him to trust her. "Don't worry," She comforted. "You'll get better with time, if you don't mind coming back for more tuition."
"Of course." He replied, slightly too quickly.
There was a hurried rapping on the door to the room. "Excuse me, Miss Katrina? There is a phone call for you, will you accept?"
Kat hurried to the door. "Yes, thank you." The nurse who was waiting outside nodded and led her down to the phone booths that lined one wall in the centre. Fyre followed close behind, hopping into the booth that the nurse indicated, following Kat and allowing her to close the door to the booth behind him.
The inside of the booth was almost bare, only clinically white walls and an adjustable seat for the user. A single, low wattage bulb lit the room only slightly, and a handset hung from the wall next to a large flat screen which allowed visual communication.
As she picked up the receiver the screen flashed into life, revealing a girl with hair similar to Kat's. Her face was reminiscent of Katrina's also. It was obvious even to Fyre that they were litter-mates.
"Katrina! Where have you been? I haven't been able to contact you for days."
"I'm sorry Sabrina, everything's moving so fast right now. Why? What's so important?"
"Do I need a reason to call my big sister?" Sabrina's eyes drifted to the Vulpix in the corner. "Kat, is that Vulpix yours?"
Kat looked conspiratorially between Fyre and her sister. "No," She admitted. "But he is helping me get my first."
"Well, thank you for helping my sister. Don't you let her get hurt."
Fyre let out an excited yip at being involved in the conversation and both girls laughed at his enthusiasm.
"So come on," Kat continued. "You never call without good reason, spit it out."
"Well, I really didn't want to get into it straight away, it's a bit sensitive... Do you remember Darius?"
Kat looked away uncomfortably. "Of course... what about him?"
Fyre could feel the tone of the conversation change. His ears flattened as he felt Katrina's discomfort.
"Well, the... Place that he was in... The institution shut down, there aren't any others of its kind in Kanto. They've decided to transport him to Sinnoh, to somewhere outside of Veilstone city."
"Darius is in Sinnoh?" Kat was almost shouting, this was obviously a matter which affected her deeply.
"No... But he will be, by tomorrow."
Kat sighed, looking to the floor and avoiding Fyre's questioning gaze. "What does this have to do with me?"
"You don't think you have a right to know? Besides, there is a... task I'd like to ask of you."
"What is it?"
"The heirloom that Darius used to... Well... We never took it from him after. He was considered secure enough that it wasn't a necessity, but with him being transferred, I just don't think it's safe. Call me paranoid but I have a bad feeling about him being transferred at all, let alone with that... Thing."
"Get to the point."
"Well since it is his brother, Gareth will be there to see Darius' safe transport. Afterwards he has agreed to meet you in Hearthome to give the heirloom to you."
"To me?" Kat seemed shocked beyond measure. "... But I... I."
"I'm sorry to put this much on your shoulders but, I just feel that it should be kept far out of his reach. You're the only family member in Sinnoh apart from Darius, and his brother who refuses to keep it for longer than a couple of days."
"I... Okay." Kat finally conceded. Her shoulders slumped in defeat.
"Thank you, I know it's a lot to ask. I have to go now. Good luck with catching your first pokémon. I'll have something special sent with the heirloom as congratulations."
The screen went blank once again as Kat replaced the handset, getting up and walking out of the booth in silence. Once back in their room Fyre let the millions of questions that had been running through his head loose.
"What was all of that? Who's Darius? Who's Gareth? What is the heirloom? Why is it such a big deal?" The questions cascaded out one after the other with barely so much as a breath between each one.
"Please, not right now Fyre... I'm, just too tired. Besides, Darius isn't someone you need to worry about. We'll have found your sister before he's even set foot in Sinnoh you'll see."
Fyre wanted answers but kept quiet for now. Stifling his curiosity with promises of telling him tomorrow, Katrina excused herself for a shower and walked into the bathroom. The flow of water could be heard and Fyre was left alone with his thoughts. He lay beside the bed and waited for his friend to return.
She walked out wearing the white towels supplied by the pokémon centre. Sitting on the bed and reaching around in the bag for a new set of clothes. After putting aside a set of jeans and a t-shirt for tomorrow she told Fyre to look away again. He complied, but an evil voice in his head kept whispering that it couldn't hurt to just, look.
"Okay, come on." Fyre could hear her patting the bed beside her.
"But there's only room for one of..." Fyre turned to look at Kat and was cut short by what he saw. She had forsaken her usual nightdress and wore only her underclothes.
"Nah it'll be okay, we'll just stick close. You don't take up much space... Unless you stretch out that is... Are you okay?" He was sure she could see him blushing through his fur. Part of him desperately hoped that she wasn't reading his mind right now, while the other was screaming at him to tell her just how "Okay." He was with the situation.
"Uhmm... Yes, yes I'm fine."
"Come on then," She had clambered underneath the bedcovers and moved over to make as much space as possible. "We can't have you sleeping on the floor."
With a gulp Fyre hopped up, taking the suggested place next to his friend. He attempted to keep as much space between them as possible but Kat seemed intent to make him uncomfortable. She put one arm around his neck and pulled him closer, mumbling something about him being like a fluffy hot water bottle.
Just like before she was out like a light as soon as her head hit the pillow. Fyre was awake for a long time after her, but this time it wasn't because he was worried about his sister. He tried as hard as he could to think about Ashley, and how they would find her tomorrow, but his mind kept drifting back to the human lying behind him and cuddling him tightly.
'I can't... Can I? I can't... Love her?' He had only known her for two days, and yet... She was so kind, so caring, and so selfless. Many half-formed thoughts ran through his head, but one thing was for sure. Saying goodbye to her would be one of the hardest things he'd ever have to do.