Seems like I'm making a habit of being late. Ah well, what can one do? Here it is, long overdue: Chapter 4 of A Spark of Embers. Check my profile if you haven't read my earlier works.

The canvas of the tent bulged obscenely under the momentum of the air, making the already small space feel claustrophobic. Aislin was hurriedly fastening the tent’s flaps, sealing us away from the cruel wind that was viciously sapping heat from every surface it collided with. Even I felt chilled from the sheer cold of the storm. As the howl of the gale rose to a fever pitch, the clouds swallowed the last patch of sky, enshrouding us in a dim dusk.

Turning to face me, Aislin sat and hugged her knees to her chest in human mimicry of a defense curl, shivering visibly. Now that the immediate crisis was over, she seemed deflated, as if the internal drive that had propelled her through the last few minutes was now exhausted. Her blue eyes were clouded, her forehead creased in troubled thoughts.

“This can’t be a natural storm.” Her voice was low, almost inaudible against the backdrop of the wind. “I checked the forecast at the center and the weather institute didn’t predict anything of this sort. There’s no way a storm this powerful would just form without warning over the mountain.” She paused to take in a breath, glancing behind her to check the taut fastenings before letting it out shakily. “We need to get back to headquarters as soon as possible. If this mess was somehow created, we’re in far over our heads, even if Katsumi recovers enough to fight. And if this is just a freak accident, I don’t want to stick around to see what comes afterwards.”

She sighed, shivering violently. I padded over to sit by her, mildly concerned, but in that moment she seemed to pull together, recovering her poise. “Well, there’s nothing we can do about it now, other than wait this… this storm out. If only Katsumi could come out to translate…” she said wistfully. “It’d be nice to get to know you better.”

I shifted restlessly. There was no way I could really communicate with Aislin beyond simple nods and shakes of negation. In the dim shadows of the tent, I couldn’t make out her facial expressions, and I couldn’t make a fire for light without the very real risk of setting the tent canvas ablaze. And without the tent, it seemed quite plausible that Aislin would die from exposure… that is, if she somehow avoided being incinerated. As if to accentuate my point, the pitch of the wind’s howling became even shriller, buffeting the relatively flimsy tent. Trees groaned somewhere beyond us, leaves flapping and branches creaking.

The temperature was dropping at an alarming rate. The wind must be coming down from the mountain peaks, bringing with them the frosty temperatures of the reaches. Across from me, Aislin started shivering steadily; her breath caught, shuddering. She turned and looked at me. “Try to warm us up a bit, will you?” she said asked between gritted teeth. “It’s bloody freezing.” I sent some energy to my burners, feeling them warm until they were smoldering, just short of flaming. Aislin huddled around me, trying to absorb as much heat as possible.

After a few minutes of silence, her shudders stilled. “Well, we’re in a fine mess,” she stated blandly. “Caught in the freak storm of the decade without any support, with Katsumi pretty much out of action until we get to a Pokémon center.” She exhaled softly, hovering her hands above my back. “On the bright side, at least I managed to catch you. Or you catch me.” Aislin turned away momentarily, but I caught a glimpse of grinning teeth. “Whatever. Anyways, if you weren’t a fire type, I wouldn’t like my prospects for surviving the night.” I looked at her and returned a flash of canines.

Aislin’s brows abruptly drew together as she narrowed her eyes and looked straight at me. “Speaking of fire, can you keep this up the entire night?” she asked, gesturing vaguely at me.

I paused to consider the energy drain heating the tent was imposing on me. True, summoning a real blaze for an offensive attack took a lot more energy than just keeping my burners on the edge of flaming, but those attacks only lasted a few seconds. Judging from the amount of power I was using… I looked at Aislin and shook my head.

She sighed. “Well, no point in tiring yourself out then. We’ll have to figure something else out.” I let myself cool off, and the warmth quickly dissipated. Aislin tentatively put out a hand towards me, and I tensed, but let her place a hand on my head. A finger moved, sliding a fingernail across my fur, and I narrowed my eyes as a light, slightly tingly sensation spread from the point of contact. Another twitch sent a shimmer of satisfaction through me, Aislin’s mouth quirking slightly as she looked down at me, but I was too absorbed in her nimble fingers to care, relaxing under her hand as she scratched just behind my ears.

Without stopping, she murmured, “I take it Katsumi already told you about what we do for a living.” I managed to nod and give her a questioning look before returning to enjoying her scratching. She smiled. “There isn’t much of what Katsumi knows that I don’t.” She shifted her hand down to my chin. “In any case, I didn’t traipse over to this mountain on a lark.” Her tone shifted, almost as if she were reciting a report. “Johto Defense has been dealing with rogue Pokémon, wild ones, ambushing travellers between our towns and cities. They’re targeting non-trainers, apparently. Intel reports that the bulk of the attacks were from grass types. While it’s not really a big deal yet, the Defense Wing is small enough that they’re… we’re overstretched.”

She grinned. “I’m rather new to the force, but they needed more field operatives desperately enough that the higher ups told me to find a fire type and get a level three field certification, so they could legally throw me into active patrol duty.” She exhaled with a devious look in her eyes. Her breath fogged. “Fire types aren’t easy to find, you know? I didn’t think they bothered to think about that, since they more or less just about threw my orders at me before kicking me out of the office. Serves them right to have me gone for two weeks, and they can’t even blame me for disobeying orders.”

 I wasn’t listening. Johto Defense has been dealing with rogue Pokémon, wild ones, ambushing travellers between our towns and cities. That was a breach of the Contract, the one granting humans a form of protection. It was long forgotten by humans, of course, but every wild-born Pokémon knew of it. It was why there were trainers – we would let the humans borrow our strength so that they could fight against each other and with us, as we fought. To give even the most pathetically weak creature to walk on ground a place on the social hierarchy.

Aislin noticed my lack of attention, gently stroking two fingers down the center of my head and asked, “Hey, you there?” Rumbling apology, I leaned into her fingers. It was then that I noticed a weak tremor in her hands and realized that the tent was cooling again. I sighed. The warm air was dissipating much too quickly from the tent for me to be able to heat it on my own. But what else was there to do? I growled softly and warmed my burners again. A strangled cry of pain startled me into forcefully cooling off my burners. Aislin was waving her fingers in the air, their tips slightly enflamed from contact with my head burners. She glared at me without malice, holding her fingers to the icy tent canvas.

I ducked my head contritely, avoiding her eyes. Sorry? The edges of Aislin’s mouth twitched and she conceded a small smile. “Well aren’t you hot-headed?” she asked in gentle mockery. I sighed in self-conscious recognition of my accident, but Aislin didn’t seem to be bothered by thoughtless blunder. She stroked my head, cool now, with her right hand and snaked her other arm around me. I glanced around warily, wondering what she intended and stiffened as the arm encircled me and drew me closer to her. Aislin made a questioning noise as she noticed my tension, and I forced myself to relax. My back pressed flush against her body as she tightened the grip slightly.

Through the rough cloth of her over-clothes I could feel her body shaking. Understanding what she intended, I gently warmed my burners – enough to generate heat without bursting into flame. It took a lot less energy to warm her directly, rather than warming the entire tent. As we shared my heat, I slowly relaxed, losing my discomfort, but not my uneasiness with the close contact.

After a while, Aislin poked my side with a finger. “If you set me on fire, I’ll haunt you for the rest of your life,” she teased gently, her voice sounding much steadier than it was a few minutes before. I snorted in amused self-derision. My heat wasn’t warming the tent, but the small pocket of warmth around us made the immediacy of the storm recede. Aislin moved, unfolding briefly from her sitting position and lying down on her side, curling around me again. I wiggled a bit, molding to the way Aislin’s arms were holding me against her. It was comfortable, surprisingly so.

“It’s fortunate I found you – or you found me – before I gave up and left,” Aislin sighed complacently, obviously relaxing in my warmth. “I get the vague feeling that this may be a lot less comfortable if you weren’t here.” I felt her laugh inaudibly, her chest contracting sharply. “A lot less comfortable,” she repeated drily, showing me she had no illusions about her chances of surviving the frosty temperatures without any of her own preparation.

“Though you know, I can’t help but think that you’re not a normal wild Pokémon,” Aislin said absently. I stiffened almost unperceivably, but she felt me against her and she looked down at me curiously. “Hmm? You don’t fight like a wild Pokémon usually does – you think tactics and you’re a lot more creative with your move combinations. Beyond that, you seem to be too used to human contact; Katsumi and I took months to become at ease with each other.” All delivered in an entirely casual and mildly curious voice, yet…

Aislin must have noticed my disquiet, because she didn’t press the issue. Without any way of answering her, I contented myself with worrying about it later or hoping that she’d just forget, and we settled into a companionable silence. By now the tent was nicely warm, as if there were a small fire burning away. After a long while, I noticed her breathing deepen. A quick glance confirmed that she had dosed off, lulled asleep by the warmth despite the storm raging just beyond us. In sleep, her face was relaxed, relieved of the tension brought on by the day’s unexpected turn of events.

Lacking anything else to do, I closed my eyes. My body would unconsciously keep the energy flow to my burners consistent while I slept, so Aislin wouldn’t freeze or catch on fire… with luck. Fatigue crept on me, and before I realized it, I was gone from the tent and the storm.

The wind howled through the alley, draining the warmth from my skin faster than I could replace. My rain soaked pelt felt freezing, numb. The shelter of the doorway was scarcely enough protection from the elements, but I had nowhere to go. The small cubbyhole where I had made my nest was lost to me, stolen by a vicious Ratata whose bite marks I still bore. I knew I was weak, too weak to live past the night. I was done.

The scuffing of footfalls on the cobbled streets faded into my consciousness, gradually growing louder as its owner moved closer to me. Eventually, I could distinguish a separate set of footsteps, accompanied by the click of claws on the stone distinct from the first. I couldn’t muster the energy to live, let alone move, so I was quite exposed when the two walkers rounded the corner and walked down my alley.

Illuminated by the light of fire, a Blaziken walked half a step behind and slightly to the left of a human female. His left hand was enveloped in flames, providing the duo with visibility in the darkness. I stayed still, hoping the two wouldn’t notice me, but in the chill rain, a sneeze crept up on me. I tried my best to stifle it, and for a moment harbored the hope of succeeding. By then, the two were already past me, but the slight sound caught the Blaziken’s ear. He paused, putting his unignited hand on the human’s shoulder, and nodding at me.

His light chased away the shadows and revealed me crouched in the doorway. I couldn’t find the energy or willpower within myself to run and hide. The female walked towards me. “A Cyndaquil,” she said softly, an expression of pity on her face. She knelt and picked me up, cradling me against her. “Can’t have you dying now, can we?” She walked back towards the Blaziken. “Let’s go home, Bast. We have a guest.”

He rumbled assent softly, and the two walked into memory, carrying me along with them.

I woke up slowly. As my eyes cleared, I looked around, taking stock of my unfamiliar surroundings. The light had a strange quality to it, as if it pervaded the area without a singular source. In the diluted twilight, the trees around me were gray and lifeless, shrouded by a colorless fog. Several steps from me, the dirt gave way to eerily still water, a pale, opaque green. Turning to glance behind me, the ground and trees terminated abruptly. Nothing lay beyond it, not even emptiness.

I got up, shuddering softly, and walked towards the water. My footfalls were muffled, and I realized that I was the only living creature… the only creature making noise. The entire landscape was frozen and soundless, scentless. Colors were faded and muted, casting a picture of grays. I reached out cautiously to touch the water. It was soft, cool to the touch… and solid. I slowly moved my other forepaw onto it, then my entire body. I was standing on the water, like a bug, except my paws didn’t even dent the surface. Without anywhere to go, I walked; walked over the eerily solid “water” into the gloom.

Beyond my small piece of land was a vast expanse of the water. Islands with trees were spaced randomly across the “lake”, but I didn’t feel any compulsion to island hop, so I just walked forward aimlessly. Glancing down, the water beneath me seemed to be giving off a soft green-blue light from its depth, though I couldn’t resolve any detail in its featureless, murky depths. I could simply be seeing its surface, or down a few meters, or into its infinite depths, and I wouldn’t be able to discern any difference. I walked on, waiting for an anomaly in the uniformity to attract my attention.

Abruptly, an enormous tree loomed out of the fog. As I got closer, I could see that it was rooted on a larger island, the sole inhabitant of the otherwise barren patch of dirt that I could see. I stepped onto the ground, and walked towards its trunk. I didn’t notice exactly when the stark soil gave way to a monochrome meadow filled with flowers colored with the palest pastels. Perhaps it simply appeared around me. The field stretched as far as my eye could see, wider than the island had appeared from my approach. Maybe it even was larger than it appeared to outside perception. As I neared the forest giant, the meadow gradually became more ordered. The patches of flowers became surrounded by stones, and I was now walking on a path winding between plots of flora. Trees walled the glade, even though I hadn’t seen them, or perhaps they hadn’t existed, from the water. I crossed a natural bridge of a fallen log over a small stream of completely still water. As I jumped down on the other side, a white glow caught my eye, and I took a step towards it.

A human was in front of me, though there was only a distant glow where she was a moment ago. Perhaps I had covered a large distance in that step… but my surroundings were still the same. She was dressed in a long white dress, currently bent over inspecting a garden plot. Noticing me, she turned towards me, revealing an elegant yet expressionless face.

“You are an interesting one.” The voice wasn’t feminine or masculine, and lacking in any emotion whatsoever. “When the two worlds you claim sunder and collide, what will you choose? Where will you find your solace, and what will you sacrifice to come to your destination?” She… it… stood and turned to me. “Yours will not be an easy path. Your world is at a tipping point, and your actions will shift the balance and shape the era to come.” It turned and walked towards the tree, then blurred into a white glow and disappeared.

I followed, finding myself at the base of the towering tree. A bulge in the trunk provided a sloping, spiraling ramp towards its branches, and I followed it up. The top of the tree was flat, as if a blade had abruptly truncated the tree. Although there should have been a body of water beneath me, I could only see darkness. A ripple in the emptiness caught my eye, and suddenly, Giratina hovered before me.

“Your life will be hard, hunter.” The same voice echoed in my head. “I come to you now, in this distortion of reality brought about by a storm never meant to be. I know you, and your nature forbids you to move away from the great disquiet that will follow. Your very existence will not rest until this tempest is resolved. Whatever your decision, you should know that you are important. Go forth, hunter, Chasseur. Face your destiny, whatever it is.”

I woke up slowly. As my eyes cleared, I looked around, taking stock of my unfamiliar surroundings. The light had a strange quality to it, shining through the canvas of the tent. It must have been just after dawn – we’d slept through the night of the storm. Aislin’s arm was still draped over me, her other just under my neck, which had a horrible kink. Judging by the deafening lack of storm winds, the two of us had managed to outlast the disaster of the century. I slid out of her embrace, shaking myself slightly to clear away the debris of my dream…

My dream. Or perhaps it would be better to call it a visitation, because there was no way I could dream up anything as bizarre, yet convincingly real as the contents of my brain last night. I sat down hard, recalling the ephemeral and mutable landscape and its sole inhabitant.  And her… it’s… Giratina’s words. Something about my two worlds colliding, a tipping point, and something about me playing an important role in it. I had a vague feeling that Giratina hadn’t given away any useful information, even if I could remember everything that had been said.

Huh. Without anything useful to do with my dream, I quietly filed it away for reference. Tilting my head back, I slowly rotated my neck until I heard a satisfying crack as the bones snapped into position. Hearing the sudden noise, Aislin woke up, her eyes shooting open. The rest of her body was completely still as her pupils dilated, then shot back and forth until they settled on me, watching her with an amused expression.

Apparently not judging me as a threat, Aislin stretched, arching her back before propping herself up on an elbow and rubbing her eyes. “Well that was quite a night,” she said, smiling to herself in unspoken relief. “Always nice to know I didn’t freeze or burn to death in my sleep.” Once again, I huffed in amusement as Aislin pushed her way out of the tent. I followed her out.

As I stepped onto the cold ground of the clearing, I blinked in vaguely horrified comprehension. A fine layer of frost covered the dirt. The forest floor was littered with downed tree limbs and fallen leaves, the sad casualties of the high winds. Sunlight glittered off ice patches on the windward sides of trees. Our tent was spared the worst of the gale, sheltered as it was by the sentinel ancient looming above us. Aislin stood beside me, her hands on her hips, scrutinizing our surroundings with a raised eyebrow.

“What a mess,” she said, shaking her head. I let out a cry of agreement. “Well, the sooner we get out of here, the happier I’ll be.” Aislin started packing up the tent, shaking out the canvas and folding up the tent poles.

I looked around, imprinting the scene in my mind. Your life will be hard, hunter, Chasseur. Know that you are important, and face your destiny, whatever it is.

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