Nothing Greater: Chapter 7
Chapter 7: New Leadership
There was not a dry eye in the entire Valley. Every inhabitant crowded around their fallen comrade (even the ones who had been injured in the fight had managed to gather around), and everyone was silent as their sniffs said everything. The somber silence was finally broken as Agro wailed out, "Daddy!" No one stopped him as he sprinted away from the rest of his family and collapsed on top of Zenith's back.
He said, "Daddy, wake up." His body stayed completely still, and Agro started to shake him gently. "Please wake up dad." Tears were streaming down his face, but no matter what he said or did, Zenith wasn't moving. He gave up trying to rouse him, and he sat down defeated, weeping at what he couldn't accept to be true. He looked up and down his father's body, and when his eyes fell upon the tip of his tail, he got all the sickening confirmation he needed.
His tail flame had completely gone out. It no longer danced vibrantly in the air as it used to. It didn't give off the warmth that it used to. It was nothing... gone forever... He sniffled uncontrollably, and got down on the ground so that he was lying next to him. He crawled his body closer, and once he was in position, he reached out and lightly grabbed Zenith's wing. Pulling it over him, all he wanted was to cry himself to sleep beneath the shadow of his wing. He wanted to feel the warmth of his father's body against his own for as long as he could. He didn't care how long he stayed there as long as he was next to his dad.
Seeing the way Agro was reacting to the tear-jerking news was just as hard to bear as was the fact that Zenith was gone forever. As much as it had to mean to him to lie there with him, Cara knew that he should be comforted in another manner. She too walked over to Zenith's body, and she reached down and put her arms around Agro. He resisted leaving his side at first, but he eventually gave up and accepted his mother's embrace.
He buried his face into her stomach and let all the tears he had in his body pour from his eyes. Darius joined them, and he hugged both of them as they tried to find the strength to deal with their loss. No one knew what to do for them other than be there for moral support, and they all watched in silence. It wasn't known how much time passed while they all stood there mourning, but night had fallen. The moon was obscured by clouds, and the only source of light was from the myriad of tail flames.
Eventually, Cara raised her head up, and she took one last look at Zenith before she made eye contact with some of the other Charizards. She nodded once to them, and they nodded back before six of them stepped forward. Drek didn't know what was going on, but they obviously had done this before, because the six Charizards got on all sides of Zenith's body and simultaneously reached down to pick him up. Four of them got his limbs, another had his tail, and the last one supported his head, and together, they lifted him off the ground.
They beat their wings in synchronicity, and they slowly lifted Zenith and themselves into the air. They hovered very slowly, and made their way to the central lava pool. The rest of them followed them somberly and crowded around the pool, waiting for the next thing to happen. As the other six got over it, they descended gently until they were practically touching the lava. With a nod to signal they were ready, they set his body on top of the lava and watched until he sank below the magmatic surface. When he was out of sight, the six of them tilted their heads up and all shot a column of fire which met in the center of them and combined to form a massive ball of flame.
They cut off their attacks, and as if by magic, the fire ball stayed hovering in the air on its own. It didn't last long, but it was mesmerizing when it was burning, and it slowly faded until there was nothing in the air again. When it was all over, the six flew back to their original spots in the crowd, and more silence passed. Their tail flames burned silently, and acted almost like a candlelight vigil, as all of them stared with sullen expressions. Drek didn't want to intrude on any sacredness they had with the burial ceremony, but he had to say something, not just for him, but for everybody's sake.
He swallowed and tried to find his voice, and he said loudly to everyone, "This isn't right."
All eyes fell on him, and he shook his head as more tears managed to creep out of his eyes. He continued, "I haven't known Zenith for half as long as any of you, but in the short time I did know him, he managed to save my life twice, and I couldn't repay the favor when he needed it the most. No matter what, Thael cannot do this again.
"I know the evil that lives in his heart, and he will be back. This was only the beginning, and no matter how hard it is, we have to stay strong. It's what Zenith would have wanted. He gave his life protecting the thing he cared for the most: all of us. If we don't rise up and defend ourselves when that monster comes back, then his death will have been in vain.
"We must use the emotion we have at this moment to fuel us and avenge our brother, not just because of him, but because of all that he fought for. No matter what, we can't let that be destroyed. We must prepare ourselves for the inevitable encounter in any way we can think of. You have all seen what we're up against now, and we must fight until our hearts are content again. Nothing we do can bring Zenith back, but we can at least regain our freedom."
By the time he had finished his speech, the ones who were on the opposite side of the lava pool had moved so that they could see and hear him better. There were some quiet moments that passed as Drek's words soaked in. Everyone knew that he spoke the truth, and one of the Charizards who was in the fighting sessions who was fairing better than some of the others said, "We need a leader though. We can't just band together and hope to be victorious without someone to guide us."
A few seconds passed before another Charizard said, "Drek should lead us."
He was definitely not prepared for that, and it didn't help that all eyes turned toward him to gauge his reaction to the proposition. His eyes widened and his mouth fell open as he moved from face to face, seeing reassuring nods. He said, "Wait... why me? All of you have been here longer than I have. All of you know each other better, and you have more experience than I do. What makes me a good candidate?"
The same Charizard who had voiced his negative opinion toward Drek's being in the class in the first place on the first day said, "Because we all saw your blue fire." In the heat of everything that had happened, he had completely forgotten that he had summoned it again, and this time, everyone had been there to witness it firsthand. He continued, "All of us were skeptical when Zenith said he saw it, but now that we've all seen it for ourselves, we believe in his faith in you."
"But... what can I teach you? I don't know any more than the rest of you."
"We don't need teaching; we just need to perfect all that we know. We know what we're up against now and we can prepare. We've weakened him and we know how many minions he has, and with the numbers of everyone else in the Valley, we will prevail when the time comes again. We just need you to take care of Thael."
"If Zenith couldn't beat him, what makes you think that I can beat him? We need to overpower him with our superior numbers."
"Zenith did beat him. You saw the end of that fight. Zenith clearly had the upper hand; he just fell victim to a cheap trick in the end. We know that you can do it."
"But why put it all on me? We can double or triple team him or even more, and that would help immensely."
"The rest of us need to protect our families from those other Pokemon. I don't know if you saw, but everyone else was put in danger when we stopped fighting them. We need every fighter we can spare to keep them busy and the others safe."
"And what about my family?"
"We will protect them as well. Don't worry; we will keep them safe so that you can concentrate on Thael. He needs time to recover and we do as well. We can use the time to prepare."
He didn't like the idea one bit. He still didn't know how to control his power, and he wasn't used to his new body yet. If Thael came back right now, even in his weakened state, he would probably best him no problem. He wasn't sure what to say. He needed someone else to give him the answer he was hoping for.
He looked from face to face in the crowd. All of them were merely staring at him as if waiting for him to say something. Even Cara and her sons were looking at him. He could tell that after what just happened to them, they needed some hope. His eyes finally fell on Seria and Charc, and after making eye contact with her, she nodded slowly to him. He then knew what his answer should be, and he let a long sigh escape from his mouth before he said to everyone, "Alright, I'll do it."
There was no cheering because Zenith was still on everyone's minds, but they all still brightened their faces a bit. He was glad that their spirits were lifted even if by a slight margin, but the fact still remained that he had no idea what he should do until the time came for Thael to return. One thing he did know, was that since he evolved, all the fatigue that he felt from the fighting class was forgotten. He wished that he could just get a group together and go take out Thael right now so that they could avoid anything, but he had no clue where Thael escaped, and even though he knew what he did, Zenith's words echoed in his head: "It's not my decision or yours to decide whether a Pokemon should live or die..."
If Drek were to have any chance against Thael though, there was one thing that he had to learn. He had to figure out how to use his blue fire on command. It's always just shown up when he needed it most, but that wasn't going to cut it in the heat of battle. That was his first priority, and it was something that no one else could teach him. He had to learn it on his own, and he had to go somewhere where he wouldn't be distracted. Making up his mind, he said to them, "All who want to and are able, meet tomorrow at the same time as usual for our sparring sessions. We will prove to Thael once and for all that he can wound us, but he can never break our passion and fighting spirit."
He received numerous head nods from the others, and he took the initiative to start walking back to his cave. Some others including Cara, Agro, and Darius stayed to pay further respect to Zenith, but the rest followed suit and returned to their homes as well. He caught up with Seria and Charc and he whispered to her, "I'll be back in the morning. Tell Charc that I just had to take care of a few things and I'll return."
She didn't get a chance to question him, because when she opened her mouth to inquire, he had already turned away and was flying through the air. She wondered what he was up to, but she was sure that he would fill her in later. She wished that she knew where he was going, but she put her worry aside and kept walking back to their home.
* * *
Thael landed awkwardly due to all of his wounds in a remote area east of the Valley. He had stumbled upon it when he first flew to the mountain he had called his home just over a month ago, and he had told the others that he would meet them there when everything was over. Just because of the simple fact that he could fly, he was the first one to arrive in the location, and now he just had to wait until the others showed up.
This gave him time to relax and think about the successes and failures of his plan. He had killed his foe, so the main purpose of his plan was fulfilled, so technically, it was a success. However, he had grossly underestimated how strong he was. Even with getting hit by four very strong attacks directly, he didn't seem fazed by them. Whether he just fought to keep his pain hidden or if he were was that strong will never be answered.
Another thing that troubled him was how badly that one attack had hurt him. Sure he was really weak after his first fight, but he had to struggle to maintain his consciousness after being hit with... whatever that thing was. One thing he knew, was that he couldn't take the risk of that new Charizard seeking him out and getting revenge of his own. He had to be dealt with in the same manner.
And then, even if he got rid of that threat, surely others would rise up to try and overthrow him. He had to not only best his new combatant, but he had to take over the Valley for himself. The time has passed for him and the others to be welcomed with open arms if they wanted to live there. If they wanted that Valley or the mountain next to it for themselves, they would have to take it by force, and to do that, first he would have to seriously wound if not kill the new Charizard.
Sure he could be safe and just fly to somewhere new for his home and possibly live his life long and full, but the land they had was too wonderful to pass up. There was food, water, shelter, it didn't get too cold or too hot... It was the perfect place for them. Also, he couldn't appear to be a coward or weak to his compatriots.
He had led them away from a life of essentially slavery, and they looked up to him with the utmost respect and admiration. What kind of leader would he be if he tucked his tail between his legs and flew away from the heart of battle? He had to face the opposing threat head on and prove that he was not afraid. Thankfully, he was confident that he was in a safe enough place that he would be able to recover uninterrupted and be able to settle this conflict soon. He wished he still had his sketched map of the Valley, but hopefully he had looked at it enough over the past month that he didn't need to refer to it anymore.
He would have to start planning immediately, though, and he would have to come up with something new soon. He couldn't lead in with the same attack as last time. He had to be tricky and catch them off guard. And once he had the plan worked out, all that he would have to do is wait for himself to be healed a hundred percent again. However, first thing was first; he was exhausted and it was still early in the night. He should get some sleep to help speed the recovery process.
However, he didn't want to be woken up by the others when they came back. Because surely if they saw him lying on the ground with his eyes closed with all his wounds, they would rouse him from his slumber assuming the worst had happened to him. He tried to think about what he could do to inform them that he wasn't dead and that he was just resting. Thankfully though, he didn't have to come up with an answer, because he saw in the corner of his eye one of his Pokemon brethren. He recognized him as the one who retreated at the beginning of the fight, but given how strong his opponent was, he didn't blame him.
When the other Pokemon saw Thael, he immediately hung his head, thinking that he was about to get yelled at for fleeing. Thael said to him, "Don't worry; I'm not mad, and I'm fine. I'm getting some sleep, so spread the news so that I don't get disturbed. You all should get some sleep as well."
He lifted his head up and his eyes softened at the compassion he was shown, and he enthusiastically said, "Yes master Thael" and with his response, Thael curled up on the ground until he was comfortable, and he quickly passed out as the moon's light finally appeared through the numerous clouds.
* * *
Drek had no idea where he was flying. He just knew that he needed to be somewhere where he wouldn't be disturbed. He had flown for about an hour so far, and as he did, he got more and more used to his wings. He was always amazed that Charizards were able to fly, and he always wondered how he was going to learn when he finally became one. Thankfully, it came pretty naturally to him, so maybe it was instinctual or something. Regardless of what it was, he was now able to control pretty much anything he could think of.
If he had to stop and change direction in a split second, he could do that. If he just wanted to glide for miles without exerting the effort, he could. Even if he wanted to turn his body upside down whether just for fun or in case he had to do so to avoid an attack, he had learned that in his flight as well. The only thing that he would have to work on would be his endurance. His wings were new, and he knew they were getting tired just from how long and far he had flown. He would need to stop soon to rest them, but he wasn't sure where. No place seemed... right to him as he scanned the ground.
Finally, he was surprised as the moon's light appeared; it was a nice feeling to be able to see it after a night of almost pure darkness, and he managed to smile for the first time since he saw Zenith die. Looking down, he saw a clearing in the rocks, and his mind told him that this was the spot. He set his wings as far out as they could go, and he started descending into the clearing.
Once he touched down, he folded and unfolded his wings a few times to stretch them out, and once he was satisfied, he relaxed and looked around as if to make sure he was actually alone. Once his mind was at peace, he started thinking about how he could use his blue fire. There had to be some common element to when he used it. He had now used it three times: once against that angry Onix, and twice against Thael.
The Onix incident had happened almost three months ago, and he had a hard time picturing exactly what he was thinking at the time. He knew that he had told Seria to run for it, and then when the Onix had turned his attention solely on him, it just sort of happened. He had inhaled like he would for any other fire breath attack, and the blue fire came out instead. That was basically all he could remember about that, because he passed out from the pain of his leg being broken not more than a few minutes later.
He couldn't help but wonder what ever happened to those Onixes. He couldn't blame them for what they did, even if they did jump to conclusions prematurely. If Charc's egg had ever randomly disappeared under his nose, he would probably blame the first foreign Pokemon he came across too. It was only natural to do it, and he was happy to learn that they did in fact find their egg.
He then pictured a tiny Onix hatching from the egg, and he was actually really curious how they were doing overall as a family. It would be nice to visit them, but that would most likely have to wait until Thael was taken care of. He shook his head to get rid of his detoured thought process, and tried to think about why he was there in the first place.
His thoughts went to inside of Thael's cave. It had all happened so fast for him, that he had trouble remembering exactly what had gone through his head. He remembered being scared at first because he knew the power that Thael had, and he was afraid for not only his life, but for Charc's as well. The next thing he knew, Thael was screaming out in pain and Zenith was looking at him with the utmost surprise, and then he broke Thael's wing and they left.
Then there was what happened just a few hours ago. After seeing Thael break Zenith's neck, he had been blinded with rage when he evolved, and when he opened his mouth, that's just what came out. Sadly, again he couldn't figure out what was going through his mind at the time. His rage had clouded his thoughts, and he couldn't figure out what what he did to summon it.
He sighed thinking that maybe it was frivolous to try and figure it out. If it just... happened every time, so maybe it was a subconscious thought or just an instinctual response, and he couldn't control it. He shook that thought process away, thinking that it couldn't be instinctual since no other Valley member could do it, and surely it would have happened to at least one of them. There was also the fact that Zenith had faith that he could control it. Whether he was right or not was yet to be seen, but Zenith was one of the only Pokemon that he would have trusted with his life, and he believed him. So if he said it was possible to control it, then by Arceus, it was possible. How difficult it would be to control might be another thing entirely though.
His eyes got wide as a thought came into his head. He couldn't believe that he had forgotten about it, but he did eat that mysterious blue berry the day before his first encounter with Thael. Maybe that was what gave him his secret power. He started to get excited that maybe he had found a breakthrough, but then he started thinking about the other times. He hadn't eaten any kind of blue berries before their encounter with the Onix, and aside from that one morning of eating them, he hadn't had them since.
No, the answer was more complex than just some food he ate, but surely there had to be some kind of link between the three incidents. He played them through his head again, and he came up with one thing that was common. Every time he had used it, a Pokemon's bone was broken. It was a link between them, but it didn't make sense, nor was it practical in any way. The first two times, he had done it before a bone was broken, and the last time it was after, so unless he could see into the future, there's no way that was it.
He sighed again, and the moon disappeared behind the clouds again. He did know that every time, he had felt an almost unbearable burning in his chest. Maybe if he just practiced putting off his fire breath for as long as possible, then it would magically work. He figured that he didn't have anything to lose, and so he inhaled and prepared his fire as he did every other time. He held his breath as long as he could, and sure enough, his chest started to hurt from the contained inferno. He was getting excited that he had figured it out, and when he couldn't hold his breath anymore, he opened his mouth and unleashed the attack.
Sadly, all that came out was his normal fire breath, albeit more powerful because he was evolved and stored it up, but it was still the normal red, orange, and yellow colors that he was used to. He was starting to get frustrated and think that maybe it wasn't possible. Again he shook his head to clear the pessimistic thoughts. There had to be something that was common among the three events, and all he had to do was figure it out. But what was it?
He sat down on his haunches and put a claw up to his chin as he pondered. If it wasn't something that he ate or something that he heard, then it had to be something that he saw or felt. Or maybe it was a combination of the two. Regardless, he started thinking about it. He knew that the first time, he had that Onix diving toward him, he knew he had to do something or he could have died. Also, when he saw Thael's attack coming, he knew that he would probably be seriously injured or killed if he didn't do something. Likewise, after Zenith died, he was slightly scared that with him gone, Thael would have turned on him or his family.
Maybe that was it. Maybe when his life was in danger, then he could produce it. It was a crazy thought, but it had potential. Now he just had to find some way to test his theory. Sadly, there weren't really any life-threatening situations that he could just make up right now, and even if he could, what if that wasn't the answer? But there had to be some way for him to test it without putting his life in danger.
What if he imagined a scenario? It was definitely safer, and if he could make himself truly believe that it was happening, then maybe it would work. It was a long shot, but he didn't really have anything to lose for trying it. He stood back up and closed his eyes tightly as he tried to picture that Onix lunging its entire body at him. He couldn't think of something scarier in his life, and using a real life event would help him picture it better.
He pictured the Onix's face and how menacing it looked. His eyes stared at him with the utmost rage and hatred, and then he dove at him as quickly as he could. Drek's heart rate was accelerated just from imagining the scenario, and in his mind, the Onix's face got closer and closer until he knew that he wouldn't be able to get away in time. He inhaled and tried to attack the Onix just as he did so long ago, and he opened his mouth and his eyes, but sadly, the same fire came out again.
He was starting to get frustrated again and discouraged. Either he wasn't imagining hard enough or that wasn't the answer. He decided to try and picture the second time it happened down to the last detail. Maybe the Onix fight just happened too long ago for him to remember it as well. He closed his eyes and pictured Zenith holding Thael on the ground. He saw Thael's mouth glow orange, and he remembered Charc clutching onto his stomach in terror.
He saw Thael open his mouth and shriek, and the orange beam started traveling toward him. He pictured Charc squeezing his stomach in fright, and just at that moment, the moon appeared again, lighting up his eyes and making the experience even more real. He opened his eyes and mouth again, and this time, much to his delight, a ball of blue fire came out of his mouth, and flew until it crashed into a rock some distance away.
He was literally bouncing in excitement as he made his first breakthrough. Now he just had to figure out exactly what caused it. There had to be something in his second imagined scene that wasn't in his first one. They were both extremely dangerous thoughts, but there had to be something that was different.
Maybe there was something that he was forgetting in the first scenario. He thought that he remembered it pretty clearly, but there had to be something that he was forgetting. His eyes widened as he thought of something. Seria had been with him at the time, and he was afraid for her safety, and when he thought about it this time, he didn't picture her in the scene. Likewise, he was afraid for Charc's when Thael was attacking, and the third time, he remembered wanting to protect his family in case he turned on them.
That had to be it. His blue fire only appeared when he was trying to protect the ones that he loved. He had now been successful in producing it when thinking about it, so all he had to do was think of a bunch of different scenarios and figure out how to control the feeling in his chest so that he didn't have to take the time to conjure it up. He might be in for a long night, but if that's what it took, he would master it, and he would work just as hard as Charc did the day he was learning to use his fire breath.
He practiced for hours upon hours, and soon, the night was gone. He was making so much progress that he didn't stop at dawn and kept going long into the morning. Finally, he was a hundred percent confident that he had nailed down how to produce the attack. He looked up at the sun, and realized that it was almost midday already. He remembered that he had told everyone who could to meet him at the same time at the lava pool, so he had to get back as soon as he could.
His wings seemed to have recovered from his night flight, and he kicked off the ground and sped back toward the Valley. It didn't take him as long to leave as it did to return, but he was still late for the start of the class, and he landed in the midst of a crowd of impatient Charizards. One of them said to him, "You're late. What kept you?"
Drek smiled and said, "Sorry, I was just working on something."
"Oh? And what would that be?"
He tilted his head into the air, and shot a ball of blue fire out before looking back at them with a big smile still on his face. There was shocked silence from the rest of them, and he broke it by saying, "Let's begin shall we?"