Story Notes:
This story was meant to only be three chapters long, but it was going so well that I made it larger. I hope you all enjoy it.
Glacial Movement
Moltres flew through the air effortlessly, gliding through the featureless sky without needing to move his wings. He was watching himself from a third-person view, yet everything seemed natural, and perfectly real. In the back of his mind, he knew it was a dream, but he didn't really care.
The ground below him was an unfocused blur, sliding by at an incredible speed. There were large, pure white clouds above him, but they did not block the rays of the rising sun, golden and beautiful. His vantage point moved slowly to his body's left side, which became a dark silhouette with the glowing sunrise behind it. It was a fantasic effect.
As his vantage point shifted again, moving over his back, Moltres looked ahead. The sky was still spotless, aside from the few clouds above.
Moltres peered forward. There was one blemish in the clean sky. Far off in the distance was a small, floating object: Merely more than a dot, but Moltres could tell it was something special. He squinted, his keen eyes focusing in on the dot, trying to make out the speck in greater detail. As he did so, the walls of the dream seemed to fly away from him, as if the world around him was literally being pulled away. Moltres tried to hold the dream in place, tried to continue focusing on the speck...
He failed. As Moltres woke, the beautiful land in his dream disappeared completely, the clear surrounding sky replaced by the dull stone walls of his cave. The stone was bare but for the flickering caused by his own flames, possessing none of the brilliant luster of the sun's rays from his dream.
Moltres blinked slowly, and straightened his legs, deep in thought. He had experienced stange dreams like that before, and most of the time they had some connection to the real world. Moltres had long been wondering if he had a sixth sense, or was phychic. This dream had made little sense, however, so he put it out of his mind with a sharp shake of his head.
He began to slowly walk out of his cave, his flames absorbing the heat from the bright sunlight that always shone on his island. He increased the strength of the flames until they were creating a burning aura around him, then spread his wings, dashing forward and flapping hard into the air.
As he rose, he looked down on his home and its surroundings, his vision passing perfectly through the fireball surrounding him. Fire Island, with its rocking waves and harsh sunlight, was both his home and his responsibility. The cave he slept in was hidden from view by a stunning optical illusion created by the rocks near it: Unless you knew exactly where it was, it was nearly impossible to spot from the air.
Moltres turned his head, looking further out across the calm waters. Lightning Island sat in the distance, identifiable from the dark yet placid stormclouds floating high above it. Those clouds were as constant and unyielding as the heat on Moltres' own island. The clouds never rained, and no amount of wind ever dislodged them. Moltres had long wondered whether Zapdos kept them there for effect, or if it was simply a natural part of Lightning Island's scenery. Either way, Moltres wasn't in a hurry to ask about it.
A sphere of crackling electricity flew from the base of Lightning Island, and Moltres' sharp eyes showed Zapdos at the centre of it. Moltres flapped harder, increasing his speed, and Zapdos did the same thing, the two birds flying directly at each other at breakneck speed.
As they approached each other, they banked to the side almost simultaneously and evened out, flying parallel to each other. Moltres lowered the strength of his flames, dropping the aura, and Zapdos copied him, the crackling sphere vanishing without trace. They began to make laps around their two respective islands in their normal morning ritual, the only purposes being exercise and a chance for casual talk. Ever since the incident involving the humans and the Great Guardian several years ago, Zapdos and Moltres had gone from being opponents to friends, or at the very least rivals. Articuno had also befriended them both, and conversed politely whenever they happened to meet. However, she only left her island about once a week, to feed, and so such conversations were uncommon.
Thinking about the frequency of Articuno's flights rang a small bell in Moltres' memory, and he looked over towards Ice Island. Articuno wasn't anywhere in view. He turned his head back to Zapdos, who was also looking at Ice Island, presumably for the same reason.
"She's not out this morning." commented Zapdos, his voice calm and dignified.
"I can see that." replied Moltres. "But it's kind of strange, I reckon. Every morning, she's being flying around her island. That's weird enough on its own, and now she's just stopped again. It's peculiar."
Zapdos give a tiny nod, still eyeing Ice Island. "It is rather peculiar. I really can't think of any reasons for her recent routine, though it could have just been a small patterned flight, like ours. But then, why did she just stop?"
"Why would I know? You talk to her more than I do, go ask her!"
Zapdos glared at him. "I was thinking out loud! If she does not wish to tell us, it is none of our business. And, in any case, I only talk to her as much as you do."
Glaring back, Moltres tilted his wings to the side, slowly drifting away. "I really don't care if she tells us or not, because I honestly don't care. I'm going to find something to eat. Bye."
Zapdos nodded again. "Goodbye. Maybe we'll talk more this afternoon. I agree, it's curious, but it's not really that important."
Moltres gave a dismissive gesture with his wing, and flew away, leaving Zapdos to continue doing laps. He had to admit to himself that he actually cared quite a lot about Articuno's behaviour. The only reason he could think of to explain the early-morning flights was exercise, and considering how fit all three of them already were, that would mean she was either planning something violent, or intending to leave the islands. Both possibilities made Moltres uncomfortable: He was only as equally strong as Articuno, and Zapdos could very likely defeat them both. But Articuno knew that as well as he did, and yet she would never willingly leave and abandon her island. But what explanation did that leave?
Moltres sighed. Zapdos was the one to think about things like this, not him. There was no sense in making up ridiculous explanations: Like Zapdos had said, if she didn't wish to say anything, it wasn't really their business.
Moltres landed back inside the crater of Fire Island, just outside his cave, and decided that he would skip breskfast. He wasn't hungry enough to eat, and wasn't in the mood for hunting. He walked back into his cave, still deep in thought. He eventually decided to simply wait until that afternoon, and talk to Zadpos on the topic some more. That was assuming that they would want to. Moltres dimmed his flames and shut his eyes, resting comfortably on the rocky ground.
That night, Moltres dreamed again. It was nearly the same dream all over again, but there were slight differences this time. The sun had moved over the horizon now, as if time was slowly passing in the dream world, yet it was still casting golden rays across the sky, as if the sunrise had only just begun. This time he was watching through his own eyes, though apparently little had changed from last time. He was still flying through the near-perfect sky, without needing to ever flap his wings, and there was still that tiny speck in the distance, as minuscule as before. Moltres tilted his head forward, once again staring at the mark. No matter how hard he focused, though, he couldn't identify what the object was.
Moltres blinked after a few seconds, not quite sure of what he was seeing. The mark appeared to have started moving; not very fast, just slowly creeping back and forth. As Moltres patiently watched it, it shifted from side to side, a gradual, smooth movement not unlike a pendulum swinging back and forth. Watching it made Moltres feel strangely calm inside, yet he couldn't understand exactly why.
Something else about the mark had changed as well. At first Moltres thought it had become blurry, but a closer look showed that it actually had something trailing through the air behind it, like a billowing banner attached to the centre of the dot.
Moltres focused on the trailing streak, trying to make out any details: It seemed a more appealing idea than watching the actual spot. All he could tell, however, was that the streak was about the same size as the spot itself, maybe slightly bigger. Moltres didn't understand the significance of this, and tried to work it out in his head, but as he did, the dream began to fade again, moving away as if his surroundings were being ripped away from him.
The environment around him tore violently into pieces, leaving nothing but an an inky abyss behind, sucking Moltres in. There were a few moments of blackness, and Moltres felt like he was plummeting down, falling into a deep pit. His flames could force no light against the walls of blackness around him, and he began to panic, tumbling uncontrollably. Then, somehow, even the abyss faded to nothingness, and he awoke.
He opened his eyes to darkness, panting hard. The dream had nearly qualified as a nightmare this time. He forced himself to calm down, and subconsciously scratched his talons at the rocky floor of his cave, to check it was solid beneath him.
The darkness was a clear indication of the fact that it was still nighttime, and the only source of light in his cave was his own small body, which cast coloured shadows across the stone walls. He increased their strength just slightly, trying to make himself feel more secure after the scary epilogue of the dream.
Moltres was just starting to wonder whether something had woken him from the dream, or whether he had just woken himself, when he saw a tiny movement outside. It was a fairly big movement, and Moltres took an educated guess as to whom it was.
"Zapdos?" he called softly. "Is that you?"
The figure outside moved forward, towards the light given by his flames, and he suddenly felt a wave of coolness wash over him. Despite his normal love for heat, it felt incredibly refreshing. The silhouette moved closer to the light given by Moltres' flames, and he could see its figure. Moltres inhaled sharply as he realised who it was, at the same moment the smooth figure replied to his question.
"No..." replied the feminine, graceful voice of Articuno. "...It's me. I'm sorry for waking you."
Moltres gasped for breath, again scared. It was a rare time Articuno would go more than a few hundred metres from her island, let alone fly all the way to Fire Island in the middle of the night. Moltres forced himself to inhale more slowly, and opened his mouth. He tried to speak calmly, but a worried stutter gave him away.
"It-It's alright. In fact, you woke me from a nightmare, so I'm actually grateful. So, ah, why are you here?" Moltres silently cursed at himself for acting so afraid, as Articuno considered her answer.
"I'm...not sure how to tell you this, but..." Articuno paused. "...I'm going away somewhere. I just wanted to tell you so you wouldn't be concerned about my absence. I'll be back in a little less than a week."
Moltres nearly tripped over himself. "You're leaving?! But where are you going? And why are you going? I..." he tried to think of something more intelligent to say, but nothing came to mind.
Articuno began to retreat back towards the cave entrance. "I'm sorry, I really am. I just wanted to tell you that I would be gone for a little while. You...seemed more approachable than Zapdos on the matter." She turned and exited the cave, spreading her wings. Moltres tried to think of something to say to hold her back, but before his mind began to function again, she lifted herself into the air, flying out of the crater.
Moltres began to follow, but thought better of it, stepping to the cave entrance and watching her fly slowly away into the night. He took note of her direction: She was flying towards and over Lightning Island, and so was heading directly north.
Moltres watched until she faded completely from sight, then turned and flew back down into his cave, mind clouded with panic and mad thoughts. What was he to do? Was there anything he could do? Why was she leaving in the first place? Would she be safe? Was she really intending to come back? Moltres had often suspected that the Great Guardian was holding them to their islands from beneath the surface of the water, but if Articuno had simply flown away as she had, what was to stop her from never returning?
Moltres settled down inside his cave, filled with worry. Eventually, he was overtaken by sleep, and he laid there the rest of the night, twitching uncomfortably, his sleep barren and dark.
The ground below him was an unfocused blur, sliding by at an incredible speed. There were large, pure white clouds above him, but they did not block the rays of the rising sun, golden and beautiful. His vantage point moved slowly to his body's left side, which became a dark silhouette with the glowing sunrise behind it. It was a fantasic effect.
As his vantage point shifted again, moving over his back, Moltres looked ahead. The sky was still spotless, aside from the few clouds above.
Moltres peered forward. There was one blemish in the clean sky. Far off in the distance was a small, floating object: Merely more than a dot, but Moltres could tell it was something special. He squinted, his keen eyes focusing in on the dot, trying to make out the speck in greater detail. As he did so, the walls of the dream seemed to fly away from him, as if the world around him was literally being pulled away. Moltres tried to hold the dream in place, tried to continue focusing on the speck...
He failed. As Moltres woke, the beautiful land in his dream disappeared completely, the clear surrounding sky replaced by the dull stone walls of his cave. The stone was bare but for the flickering caused by his own flames, possessing none of the brilliant luster of the sun's rays from his dream.
Moltres blinked slowly, and straightened his legs, deep in thought. He had experienced stange dreams like that before, and most of the time they had some connection to the real world. Moltres had long been wondering if he had a sixth sense, or was phychic. This dream had made little sense, however, so he put it out of his mind with a sharp shake of his head.
He began to slowly walk out of his cave, his flames absorbing the heat from the bright sunlight that always shone on his island. He increased the strength of the flames until they were creating a burning aura around him, then spread his wings, dashing forward and flapping hard into the air.
As he rose, he looked down on his home and its surroundings, his vision passing perfectly through the fireball surrounding him. Fire Island, with its rocking waves and harsh sunlight, was both his home and his responsibility. The cave he slept in was hidden from view by a stunning optical illusion created by the rocks near it: Unless you knew exactly where it was, it was nearly impossible to spot from the air.
Moltres turned his head, looking further out across the calm waters. Lightning Island sat in the distance, identifiable from the dark yet placid stormclouds floating high above it. Those clouds were as constant and unyielding as the heat on Moltres' own island. The clouds never rained, and no amount of wind ever dislodged them. Moltres had long wondered whether Zapdos kept them there for effect, or if it was simply a natural part of Lightning Island's scenery. Either way, Moltres wasn't in a hurry to ask about it.
A sphere of crackling electricity flew from the base of Lightning Island, and Moltres' sharp eyes showed Zapdos at the centre of it. Moltres flapped harder, increasing his speed, and Zapdos did the same thing, the two birds flying directly at each other at breakneck speed.
As they approached each other, they banked to the side almost simultaneously and evened out, flying parallel to each other. Moltres lowered the strength of his flames, dropping the aura, and Zapdos copied him, the crackling sphere vanishing without trace. They began to make laps around their two respective islands in their normal morning ritual, the only purposes being exercise and a chance for casual talk. Ever since the incident involving the humans and the Great Guardian several years ago, Zapdos and Moltres had gone from being opponents to friends, or at the very least rivals. Articuno had also befriended them both, and conversed politely whenever they happened to meet. However, she only left her island about once a week, to feed, and so such conversations were uncommon.
Thinking about the frequency of Articuno's flights rang a small bell in Moltres' memory, and he looked over towards Ice Island. Articuno wasn't anywhere in view. He turned his head back to Zapdos, who was also looking at Ice Island, presumably for the same reason.
"She's not out this morning." commented Zapdos, his voice calm and dignified.
"I can see that." replied Moltres. "But it's kind of strange, I reckon. Every morning, she's being flying around her island. That's weird enough on its own, and now she's just stopped again. It's peculiar."
Zapdos give a tiny nod, still eyeing Ice Island. "It is rather peculiar. I really can't think of any reasons for her recent routine, though it could have just been a small patterned flight, like ours. But then, why did she just stop?"
"Why would I know? You talk to her more than I do, go ask her!"
Zapdos glared at him. "I was thinking out loud! If she does not wish to tell us, it is none of our business. And, in any case, I only talk to her as much as you do."
Glaring back, Moltres tilted his wings to the side, slowly drifting away. "I really don't care if she tells us or not, because I honestly don't care. I'm going to find something to eat. Bye."
Zapdos nodded again. "Goodbye. Maybe we'll talk more this afternoon. I agree, it's curious, but it's not really that important."
Moltres gave a dismissive gesture with his wing, and flew away, leaving Zapdos to continue doing laps. He had to admit to himself that he actually cared quite a lot about Articuno's behaviour. The only reason he could think of to explain the early-morning flights was exercise, and considering how fit all three of them already were, that would mean she was either planning something violent, or intending to leave the islands. Both possibilities made Moltres uncomfortable: He was only as equally strong as Articuno, and Zapdos could very likely defeat them both. But Articuno knew that as well as he did, and yet she would never willingly leave and abandon her island. But what explanation did that leave?
Moltres sighed. Zapdos was the one to think about things like this, not him. There was no sense in making up ridiculous explanations: Like Zapdos had said, if she didn't wish to say anything, it wasn't really their business.
Moltres landed back inside the crater of Fire Island, just outside his cave, and decided that he would skip breskfast. He wasn't hungry enough to eat, and wasn't in the mood for hunting. He walked back into his cave, still deep in thought. He eventually decided to simply wait until that afternoon, and talk to Zadpos on the topic some more. That was assuming that they would want to. Moltres dimmed his flames and shut his eyes, resting comfortably on the rocky ground.
That night, Moltres dreamed again. It was nearly the same dream all over again, but there were slight differences this time. The sun had moved over the horizon now, as if time was slowly passing in the dream world, yet it was still casting golden rays across the sky, as if the sunrise had only just begun. This time he was watching through his own eyes, though apparently little had changed from last time. He was still flying through the near-perfect sky, without needing to ever flap his wings, and there was still that tiny speck in the distance, as minuscule as before. Moltres tilted his head forward, once again staring at the mark. No matter how hard he focused, though, he couldn't identify what the object was.
Moltres blinked after a few seconds, not quite sure of what he was seeing. The mark appeared to have started moving; not very fast, just slowly creeping back and forth. As Moltres patiently watched it, it shifted from side to side, a gradual, smooth movement not unlike a pendulum swinging back and forth. Watching it made Moltres feel strangely calm inside, yet he couldn't understand exactly why.
Something else about the mark had changed as well. At first Moltres thought it had become blurry, but a closer look showed that it actually had something trailing through the air behind it, like a billowing banner attached to the centre of the dot.
Moltres focused on the trailing streak, trying to make out any details: It seemed a more appealing idea than watching the actual spot. All he could tell, however, was that the streak was about the same size as the spot itself, maybe slightly bigger. Moltres didn't understand the significance of this, and tried to work it out in his head, but as he did, the dream began to fade again, moving away as if his surroundings were being ripped away from him.
The environment around him tore violently into pieces, leaving nothing but an an inky abyss behind, sucking Moltres in. There were a few moments of blackness, and Moltres felt like he was plummeting down, falling into a deep pit. His flames could force no light against the walls of blackness around him, and he began to panic, tumbling uncontrollably. Then, somehow, even the abyss faded to nothingness, and he awoke.
He opened his eyes to darkness, panting hard. The dream had nearly qualified as a nightmare this time. He forced himself to calm down, and subconsciously scratched his talons at the rocky floor of his cave, to check it was solid beneath him.
The darkness was a clear indication of the fact that it was still nighttime, and the only source of light in his cave was his own small body, which cast coloured shadows across the stone walls. He increased their strength just slightly, trying to make himself feel more secure after the scary epilogue of the dream.
Moltres was just starting to wonder whether something had woken him from the dream, or whether he had just woken himself, when he saw a tiny movement outside. It was a fairly big movement, and Moltres took an educated guess as to whom it was.
"Zapdos?" he called softly. "Is that you?"
The figure outside moved forward, towards the light given by his flames, and he suddenly felt a wave of coolness wash over him. Despite his normal love for heat, it felt incredibly refreshing. The silhouette moved closer to the light given by Moltres' flames, and he could see its figure. Moltres inhaled sharply as he realised who it was, at the same moment the smooth figure replied to his question.
"No..." replied the feminine, graceful voice of Articuno. "...It's me. I'm sorry for waking you."
Moltres gasped for breath, again scared. It was a rare time Articuno would go more than a few hundred metres from her island, let alone fly all the way to Fire Island in the middle of the night. Moltres forced himself to inhale more slowly, and opened his mouth. He tried to speak calmly, but a worried stutter gave him away.
"It-It's alright. In fact, you woke me from a nightmare, so I'm actually grateful. So, ah, why are you here?" Moltres silently cursed at himself for acting so afraid, as Articuno considered her answer.
"I'm...not sure how to tell you this, but..." Articuno paused. "...I'm going away somewhere. I just wanted to tell you so you wouldn't be concerned about my absence. I'll be back in a little less than a week."
Moltres nearly tripped over himself. "You're leaving?! But where are you going? And why are you going? I..." he tried to think of something more intelligent to say, but nothing came to mind.
Articuno began to retreat back towards the cave entrance. "I'm sorry, I really am. I just wanted to tell you that I would be gone for a little while. You...seemed more approachable than Zapdos on the matter." She turned and exited the cave, spreading her wings. Moltres tried to think of something to say to hold her back, but before his mind began to function again, she lifted herself into the air, flying out of the crater.
Moltres began to follow, but thought better of it, stepping to the cave entrance and watching her fly slowly away into the night. He took note of her direction: She was flying towards and over Lightning Island, and so was heading directly north.
Moltres watched until she faded completely from sight, then turned and flew back down into his cave, mind clouded with panic and mad thoughts. What was he to do? Was there anything he could do? Why was she leaving in the first place? Would she be safe? Was she really intending to come back? Moltres had often suspected that the Great Guardian was holding them to their islands from beneath the surface of the water, but if Articuno had simply flown away as she had, what was to stop her from never returning?
Moltres settled down inside his cave, filled with worry. Eventually, he was overtaken by sleep, and he laid there the rest of the night, twitching uncomfortably, his sleep barren and dark.