Chapter 18 : The beast within

"Volans!! Volans!!" called Akima, expecting the black Arcanine to appear any moment. But, he didn't. Akima flexed her ears, but heard nothing. So, she decided to follow Volans' example (no, not running away screaming!) and put her nose to the ground. Her scence of smell was far from Volans', but she could smell him. He must have been moving fast, the scents were barely there at all.

Finally, though, Akima gave up. She couldn't track well, and she decided that if she really wanted to find Volans, a high place would help her.

So, using her lithe, flexible body, Akima jumped to the top of a wooden fence. Rocking unsurely for a moment, she finally regained balance, and nimbly trotted across the fence. She jumped to the roof of a garage, then straight onto the roof of a house. On the tiles, she grabbed the time to look around, but did not see Volans.

Hopping from roof to roof, Akima still didn't see anything. Finally, she grew exhausted, and stopped, still on the top of a building.

Regaining her breath, she suddenly heard a noise.

The rythmetic beating of wings.

"Oh great!' she thought 'I've fallen off the roof and died, and not known it, and it is actually my ghost looking for Volans now. And that noise is an angel coming to take me to the afterlife. Great. Just great."

But, it was no angel, and as Akima turned to see, she was met by a slashing group of fangs, and huge, heavy jaws. There was the smell of burning.

"Shit!!" Akima ducked, and rolled down the side of the roof. Grappling onto the edge of the tiles, she stopped her fall to the ground, and was nearly swept from her feet from a blast of air propelled from great green wings. There was a flash of fire that scorched the hair on the back of Akima's neck, then, the Charizard wheeled again, and flame-throwered out scorching fire.

Akima ducked, then, her memory flashed back for a moment.

She knew this Charizard!

Then, suddenly, a name formed at the tip of her tongue, and she screamed out "NO NEITH! IT'S ME, AKIMA, VOLANS' FRIEND!"

The Charizard stopped suddenly as he readied himself for more fire. He swallowed, and there was a hiss in his throat, the sound of dying fire. Akima heaved a sigh of relief.

"Akima?" The Charizard looked confused for a moment, then his cerulean eyes brightened. "Of course! I remeber you now!"

"Oh great." snapped Akima angrily. "You nearly fried my arse off!"

The Charizard grunted apoligetically. He flicked his flame-tipped tail, and a Pidgey shrieked and fluttered above his head. Neith glanced at it mindlessly as if it was nothing more than a bug, and snapped it form the air. Akima rose an eyebrow.

"This is no time to be eating. Your friend has gone missing."

"Volans?"

Akima looked skyward. Charizards! Who could fathom them?

"Nope. The king of cheese -- who do you think dickhead?" Akima new she was getting frustrated, he was swearing, and yelling at a Charizard, one of her greatest fears, for that matter. Neith looked at her, and there was a glimpse of fangs. Long, two inch fangs that could turn you to Growlithe-meat in seconds...

Akima decided to shut up.

"Yeah. He's gone missing." whined Akima pitifully. Neith felt sorry for her. Despite her harsh atitude, she really did care for Volans. Right now, he long ears were flopped, and her eyes were shining and running with tears. She was frightened for her friend.

"How did he go missing?" asked Neith, more gently this time. He bent his head down, his teeth gently overlapping his bottom lip. Smoke curled from his nostrils.

Akima told him of the Pokémon market, the dead Pokémon, that, were Pokémon, but did not look like them. Then, she tld him that he had smelt the Arcanine furs, and gone berserk, charging of shouting something that she hadn't quite heard.

"He was running too fast. He disappeared. I don't know where he is!" panicked Akima. Neith quieted her.

"Shh. We'll find him. I have wings you know!" said Neith, with relative cheerfuless. Akima shut her streaming eyes, and nodded.

"Will you fly round then? I'll keep looking the way I am now." mumbled the Espeon.

Neith suddenly looked sly. His bright eyes shone.

"Yeah, I'll fly around. But you will come with me."

Akima gave him a furtive glance.

"You gotta be kiddin' me?!" she laughed. Too her dismay, Neith shook his head.

"Nope. I'll hold you in my claws."

Akima lowered her gaze from Neith's face, to his 'hands'. Great talons, each at least three inches, curving like a hawk's. Designed to slash your guts out, not carry you gently along. Akima snorted.

"Chuff off!"

Neith looked at her again with those eyes. They were somehow hypnotising -- and very eerie. Akima shuddered in her fur.

"Okay. Okay. But if a scream, promise not to drop me." she said, trying to pull her gaze from the heavy taloned paws, which her eyes were fixed on again.

"Don't worry about it. If you do fall, try and land on your feet -- not your head." said Neith helpfully, as Neith grasped hold of her sides with his hands.

"Thanks for that piece of advice Neith." grimaced Akima, as she felt long claws digging into her flanks...

***

Volans kept running. His eyes were streaming with tears, and he couldn't see. Even Akima shouting voice seemed very distant, very far away -- or maybe she was far away?Volans wasn't sure. he didn't know where he was running, or how long he would keep running.

Eventually, Volans stopped. His sides were heaving, and his lungs and heart were cramped painfully. He crumpled to the ground, crying, and clutching his sides with the elbows of his front legs. He dug deep into the leaf litter, trying to escape the thoughts in his head, covering his eyes with his paws, and whining like a Growlithe.

"No no no!" he still gasped. "Not my mum!"

In the rack of Arcanine skins, one had been his mother's.

He knew it. There was no doubt about it. His mother was dead, gone.

Once smelled, never forgotton.

A smell was an imprint on an Arcanine's brain.

His mother...

Eventually, Volans fell unconcious to the exhaustion of grief, but even then, his dreams kept running.

When Volans awoke, the tears had dried on his face. His eyes were rhuemy and sticky. He was buried in leaves, and realised he was in a park in the centre of the town. He guessed humans liked to have a bit of green in their endless territories of concrete and iron.

His dead mother was still in the back of his mind, but he had calmed slightly. He was also beginning to worry -- was Akima okay? He tried not to dwell on this -- he was too tired to go looking for her any more anyway. He suddenly realised it was dark. There was a crescent moon, and a Hoot Hoot, an owl Pokémon, flew above his head. Sniffing gently, Volans caught the scent of a Sneasel. He growled gently, warning the Dark-type away. It might give his position away if it felt like it. Volans shut his eyes gently, and rested a while, until. he suddenly heard...nothing.

Strange. There was always some sort of Pokémon out at night, or at least insects. But no. Even the crickets in the shrubs had quietened.

Volans opened his eyes, and looked straight ahead of him.

What was that?

Straight ahead was something white, with a blueish hue, and a pale blue aura surrounding it. Volans could have sworn it as a wolf, maybe even an Arcanine.

Then, it was gone.

Volans layed his head down, and then suddenly there was a rush of air beside him. His head snapped up, and he looked up.

The white, glowing Arcanine was above him.

Volans felt he knew this wolf, even though he had never seen it before. There was something funny about it, not just what it looked like. He also didn't feel threatened. There was something strange about this wolf.

Very strange.

It stood there. Its white body glowed, and it seemed...translucent. Its eyes were the colour of a Dragonair's skin, and souless and blank, as if they looked straight through Volans. Yet, they also seemed warm, and full of life, like they were drinking Volans straight in. The outline of the animal against the dark of the night shimmered and shook, and Volans had the idea this was a dream.

Then, Volans realised something.

The animal's scent, there was none.

And it was that moment Volans recognised it.

And, the animal spoke.

"Volans. You know who I am?" its voice was neither that of male or female, and it never changed its tone or pitch. It was a flat voice.

"Yes, Arcan, I know who you are."

"And you know why I have come."

Volans also noticed the creature did not have a mouth. But when it spoke, its eyes shone brighter.

"Yes. You have come to tell me of my mother's death."

Arcan's eyes shone, and Volans guessed he'd got it right.

"Yes. You saw her, didn't you."

Volans knew there was no point in answering that. It was not a question. It was a statement.

Suddenly, Volans thought of something.

"Arcan? Can you please tell my mother that I love her?"

Arcan glowed, and a pale paw moved forward.

"I cannot do that. I am only the Arcanine who tells of death. I do not know your mother."

And Volans blinked, and Arcan was gone.

***

It was dark, but Akima would not stop looking. Her sharp eyesight even pentrated the dark. She still saw nothing.

"Akima, my wings and arms are tired, can we please stop looking?" grumbled Neith, hearing his wings crack at the joint. Akima growled.

"Are you implying I'm fat?" she snapped.

Neith looked round nervously.

"Uhh...no, just, heavy." said Neith a little awkwardly. Akima growled again.

"Huh! Well that's flattering to know!"

"Actually chubby ankles are meant to look nice in female Charizards..."

"Why you big..."

Akima tried to bite him. Neith growled.

"Bite me, I drop you."

Akima grumbled. She fidgeted feeling Neith's claws sticking into her sides. Suddenly, she caught site of something.

"Neith? What's that?"

"Huh?" Neith looked to where Akima was pointing. There was an area of green near the centre of the town. But that was not what was interesting. There was something bright and glowing a pale blue. It seemed to look like a wolf. Neith tipped his wings and swept them in a long easy stroke, shooting him towards the ground.

"What the....oh sssshhhHHHHIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTT!!!!!" screamed Akima a they shot to the ground. "My stomach is being left behind!!!" she retched, and was promptly sick.

Neith landed heavily, and dropped the wriggling Akima straight away, who ran over to some shrubs, and threw up again. The glowing thing was gone, but there was something else in the dark.

"Volans!" suddenly shouted Akima, and ran over to him. She nuzzled the black Arcanine affectionately, and he licked her over the head. Then, Volans looked up.

"Hey Neith!! Thanks for bringing Akima over!" smiled Volans, trotting over to the Charizard.

"Fucking hell Volans!" swore Akima, now furious. "What was wrong with you???!!! Why'd you run off?!"

Volans looked guilty.

"I'm sorry Akima. It was....those skins. One was my mum."

Akima looked up.

"Oh! Volans I'm sorry!" she gasped. Volans smiled gently.

"Don't worry about it Akima."

Akima looked to the floor, and twitched her long icing-pink ears.

"Wish my mum was a fur hankey." she growled. Volans looked at her strangely.

"What was that Akima?"

Akima's head snapped back up.

"What was....oh! Nothing!"

Volans darted a suspicious look in her direction, then turned to Neith.

"Neith! Are we near to that fur market?"

Neith shrugged his wide shoulders, and flexed his long green wings. He spanned them out to full length, and flapped into the air. He circled, and the warm light glowering from the tip of his tail lightened up the navy sky. His large azure eyes blinked, and he narrowed them, and smiled, the tips of his fangs shining in the light from the headlamps below him. His wings dipped, and he landed on the grass below.

"It's about a mile that way." Neith gestured north-east.

Volans growled viciously, a wry smile crossing his canine face.

"Come on Neith, Akima!" he laughed viciously, and began running.

"What the..." Neith watched as the Arcanine dashed away.

"Might as well follow him." muttered Akima, and Neith scooped her up in his claws, and flew up with her in his claws.

***

Ahead of him, outlined in dark, the market stood. It had not yet been packed away for the night, but Volans guessed the humans would be back soon. He smiled viciously, and rumbled the fire in his belly.

"I'll show you mother fuckers!" he growled angrily, the smile still streaking his face. He opened his mouth, and smoke spewed. He took a deep breath, his eyes burned red, and "WWHHHOOOOOSHH!" a ball of fire, bigger than Volans could remember seeing, lighted the dark. There was a moment of silence, then a huge explosion as the market burst into flames.

Volans smiled, his eyes glinting at the sight.

Red and orange flames licked the starry sky, swirled and churned upwards, shimmered and shone. Embers flickered, burnt the tip of Volans' nose as they poured from the sky like burning rain. Volans didn't even notice, as the ecstasy of the moment bubbled through his body. He could smell the scent of burning fur, and, when Volans sharpened his vision, he could have sworn he saw faint silver shadows rising in the dark.

The spirits of the dead Pokémon.