Story Notes:
The chapters in this story are in no way connected to each other, except for the fact that they are all inspired by song lyrics from "There's a river in the valley made of melting snow", by Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band, formerly The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra and Tra-La-La Band, formerly A Silver Mt. Zion (ASMZ) and, at one point, The Silver Mountain Reveries. There will be 36 chapters, with none of them having more than 2000 words. Each will have its own topic, according to the individual titles. Each will have different characters and a different setting, in order to show just how many topics this song deals with. Speaking of which, in case you'd like to listen to it, you can find it on YouTube. I recommend this song; I've been listening to it for about three years now, and it just never gets old. There are so many things that come to my mind when listening to it, so now I'm trying to write them all down. Since the chapters are going to be really short, I think I'll be able to put a new one online every two days or so, depending on how much time I have. I know there are other projects I should be working on, but now I suddenly had this idea and I'd really like to see how it turns out. It's a bit hard to write stories that are so very short and still meaningful, but luckily they don't have to stand on their own, as they are mostly ways to interprete the song they are based on. Well, I hope I'll be able to update as often and as quickly as I am planning to, and I hope you'll enjoy reading and listening to "There's a river in the valley made of melting snow".
...if the trees themselves were all on fire...
PLEASE NOTE: I do not own Pokémon, and I have to say that I'm kind of proud of it, because the idea of capturing animal-like creatures to make them fight each other is pretty sick, actually. Be this as it may, every species of Pokémon referred to in the following text and everything else that is a part of the Pokémon franchise is the property of their rightful owner, however, the actual story belongs to me. The title belongs to Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band/ The Silver Mountain Reveries. No copyright infringement is intended.
Thank you.
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Have you never heard that there's a river in the valley made of melting snow...?
...if the trees themselves were all on fire...
The tall Dragonite was sitting on a large rock, staring down at the forest. She spent a lot of time in such a position, and usually she did not even really notice it. Her mind was racing, but her thoughts did not seem to be going anywhere. From up here, everything looked deceivingly peaceful. She, however, could feel that something was wrong down there. Something was always wrong.
A few steps behind her, just in front of the cave entrance, there were the two young ones, a Venonat and a Farfetch'd, who were called Elzie and Krone. They were talking among each other, apparently believing that the Dragonite was not listening.
"There, she's just sitting on that rock again," Krone said, pointing towards the Dragonite with his leek. "I bet she'll keep doing nothing until it's evening, as usual. Isn't she supposed to be teaching us?" Elzie rubbed her antennae with her front paws in a nervous manner.
"I don't know, maybe she is teaching us right now?" she proposed. "It might be a metaphor, maybe she just wants us to take a good look at the forest..." The Farfetch'd shook his head.
"That's ridiculous," he remarked. "She didn't even tell us what we're supposed to do. We could just be sitting inside of the cave all day long and she wouldn't even care." Elzie turned towards the Dragonite for a moment, but looked back at Krone as he continued talking. "Our parents dragged us all the way up on this mountain so we could profit from Lady Kyhra's tremendous wisdom, but so far she's hardly even said anything to us! All that happens is that she sometimes flies away to gather some food, and we don't ever do anything at all!"
"I seem to remember that there was something very important I said to you, and that was "Please don't call me �Lady�"." Both Krone and Elzie quickly turned towards the Dragonite, whose low, deep voice had made them realize all of a sudden that their conversation had not been as private as they had thought. "I had hoped you would remember that." The Dragonite was still facing away from them, but Krone still lowered his head.
"I'm sorry, Kyhra," he said lowly. He waited for a moment, then he asked:
"Did you hear everything Elzie and I just talked about?" The Venonat was still rubbing her antennae. She knew Kyhra was someone to be respected, and she was mostly ashamed of Krone's apparent mistrust, as if it were her own fault.
"I heard every single word," Kyhra replied. Elzie just felt more and more embarrassed, but the Farfetch'd did not, apparently. He stepped closer towards the Dragonite and held out his leek in a somewhat accusing manner.
"Then what do you have to say?" he wanted to know. "Why don't you want to teach us?" Very slowly, Kyhra turned her head and her gaze came to rest on Krone.
"There is nothing I have to teach you," she said calmly. Elzie looked up. With Kyhra having fixated the Farfetch'd, it seemed a bit easier to talk.
"But... that is why our parents brought us here," she mumbled, her voice becoming lower as the Dragonite turned around completely in order to face the children. "They said you'd... teach us..." She fell silent. Kyhra nodded slowly.
"Your parents," she spoke, and a small sarcastic grin appeared on her face. "Yes, I can imagine your parents having said a lot of things to you. Look at me, I'm living alone on top of a tall mountain!" She stood up, and both Elzie and Krone took a step back, intimidated by her sheer size. "Everyone knows that living all by yourself in a place that's really hard to reach makes you a smart person! And everyone knows that such a person loves to teach others the only good way to get through life! Well, your parents were wrong!" She turned around once more and pointed to the ground. "If anything has made me smart, then the forest did. That's why I came here. This mountain is just a place where I can stay without being bothered by anyone." Elzie thought this meant that they should just keep quiet for the rest of the day and leave Kyhra alone, but Krone had apparently not understood the Dragonite's words this way.
"Well..." he spoke slowly, "if the forest has made you smart, then there are some things you can teach us, right...?" Kyhra sat down on her rock once more and shook her head.
"You're not here to learn," she said lowly, "you're here to be safe." Elzie and Krone looked at each other. They were rather surprised by this answer.
"What would we need to be kept safe from?" the Farfetch'd asked.
For a while, there was silence. Krone already wanted to repeat his question, but the Venonat beckoned for him to keep quiet. After what seemed like minutes, Kyhra finally spoke:
"The fire... The whole forest is burning..."
Krone frowned and walked up to her side. From there, he could clearly see the trees down below. There was nothing that would have seemed unusual to him.
"I can't see anything," he said after a moment. "Where is that fire supposed to be?"
"It's everywhere," the Dragonite replied. She looked down at the Farfetch'd next to her, and he winced slightly under the hard stare of her black eyes. "It's inside of you, and inside of every Pokémon down there. They set the entire forest ablaze." Krone just kept looking up at her in a completely oblivious way. Kyhra sighed deeply. She knew she was not good at talking to others and having lived alone on top of this mountain for years certainly did not help in this matter. "Don't you remember how you felt when you found out that Elzie's mother is an ardent admirer of Yoric?"
"Yoric?" the Farfetch'd repeated angrily. He turned towards Elzie, raised his leek and shouted: "How can your family support such a terrible person?! I can't believe that..." The Venonat cowered in fear, but Kyhra quickly cut him off.
"Be quiet!"
It had sounded more like a growl than like anything else, and so Krone immediately stopped talking and looked to the ground. "You see, that is what I mean!" the Dragonite went on, now obviously enraged. "It's everywhere! Even someone as shy and gentle as you got consumed by it!" She was pointing at Elzie, who shivered slightly as she was expecting to get yelled at, too. "Do you remember how you didn't want to talk to Krone for days after you had found out that he is the son of Holstin?" The Venonat was, once again, rubbing her antennae. She did not say anything in return.
"That's something completely different!" Krone suddenly exclaimed. "My father is fighting for everyone in that forest! Kalaan does not have any right to rule, he tricked others into accepting him as their leader, and nowadays, nobody wants him anymore! But my father is loved by everybody, he is well known as a very intelligent and strong Farfetch'd who just wants what's best for everyone, and..."
"That's enough!" Kyhra was taking deep breaths. She had trouble keeping herself calm, and still she knew she would have to endure even more of this. The Dragonite closed her eyes for a moment, and when she opened them again, she was looking at Elzie.
"Elzie, please tell us something about Yoric," she said. "Krone will not interrupt you." The Farfetch'd looked surprised for a small moment, but quickly understood that there was an "or else" hidden in that sentence. He decided to keep his beak closed.
"Yoric is... a Vileplume, who is tired of everyone constantly fighting for leadership in the forest," she spoke, her voice shivering a little, as having the Dragonite's full attention was making her feel a bit uncomfortable. "He... He says that it would be better to live without leaders... He says that everything can be fine, as long as we just don't try to rule over each other..." Kyhra nodded.
"And still, he has a lot of Pokémon following him who would do everything he says, doesn't he?" The Venonat swallowed.
"That's true," she mumbled, "but he says he would only be their leader until everyone has understood that they do not need leaders, and then..."
"I'll tell you what happens then," the Dragonite interrupted her in a firm, serious tone. "He will make sure that everyone thinks the same way he does, and in order to do that, he will need to stay the leader for a while. He would have everyone who opposes him slaughtered, just for the greater good, of course. And afterwards, he would decide to stay the Pokémon's leader, just in case that a new problem might come up. He has to make sure that everyone is safe and protected, after all." Elzie looked at the ground, but Krone nodded. He seemed to be satisfied.
"That's right, Yoric is nothing but a huge liar," he said. "My father..."
"Your father, in case he will actually beat Kalaan, would be this forest's fifty-seventh king," Kyhra spoke loudly. "His supporters would be satisfied with him for a while, maybe even for three or four years. Then something would change. Everyone would suddenly hate him. He would be the new Kalaan, there would be a new Yoric, and there would be a new Holstin." The Farfetch'd looked up at her, and she saw pure anger in his eyes. However, he did not say anything for once. Kyhra sighed.
"Do you even know how old I am?" she asked lowly. "Do you even know how often this has happened already?" Her gaze wandered from Krone across Elzie, and finally came to rest on the forest below. "Everyone says it would be different this time," she continued, still keeping her voice low. "Everyone... believes..." She shook her head. "But it's just the fire speaking through them," she mumbled. "Every single one of those trees will be set ablaze over and over again, and each time, so very many Pokémon will have to die... And the fire will never leave, there will always be someone keeping it alive..."
There was a short moment of silence.
"You're wrong," Krone said. "My father will beat Kalaan, and he'll bring justice and happiness to the forest. Everything will be fine." Kyhra looked at him for a rather long time.
"You may go and set everything on fire, if you want to," she spoke, "but leave me alone. I am so very sick of Pokémon like you." The Farfetch'd kept staring at her. After a while, he nodded.
"Fine," he said loudly. "I'll leave. You'll see I was right someday." He bit down on his leek so that he would not drop it and then flew away. The Dragonite watched his slow decent into the forest, until she heard Elzie's low, shy voice.
"Kyhra...?" She turned around and saw that the Venonat had stepped up to her side. "I don't want to go back into the forest... Can I please stay with you?" Kyhra blinked and then smiled. She reached out with her paw and gently ruffled through the thick fur on top of Elzie's head.
"Of course you can, little one. Don't worry about anything. Up here, we're safe from all that trouble."
They both looked at the forest for a few more moments, then went inside the cave.
(1997 words)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Chapter End Notes:This ends the sixth chapter. As usual, if you have comments, suggestions or anything you'd like to talk about, please write a review or send an email to [email protected] . I hope you liked this chapter, and I'll do my best to upload the next one tomorrow. It will be called "...your hips on mine make a choir...".
Please be free...
-- Lion vom Silberwal
Thank you.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
...if the trees themselves were all on fire...
The tall Dragonite was sitting on a large rock, staring down at the forest. She spent a lot of time in such a position, and usually she did not even really notice it. Her mind was racing, but her thoughts did not seem to be going anywhere. From up here, everything looked deceivingly peaceful. She, however, could feel that something was wrong down there. Something was always wrong.
A few steps behind her, just in front of the cave entrance, there were the two young ones, a Venonat and a Farfetch'd, who were called Elzie and Krone. They were talking among each other, apparently believing that the Dragonite was not listening.
"There, she's just sitting on that rock again," Krone said, pointing towards the Dragonite with his leek. "I bet she'll keep doing nothing until it's evening, as usual. Isn't she supposed to be teaching us?" Elzie rubbed her antennae with her front paws in a nervous manner.
"I don't know, maybe she is teaching us right now?" she proposed. "It might be a metaphor, maybe she just wants us to take a good look at the forest..." The Farfetch'd shook his head.
"That's ridiculous," he remarked. "She didn't even tell us what we're supposed to do. We could just be sitting inside of the cave all day long and she wouldn't even care." Elzie turned towards the Dragonite for a moment, but looked back at Krone as he continued talking. "Our parents dragged us all the way up on this mountain so we could profit from Lady Kyhra's tremendous wisdom, but so far she's hardly even said anything to us! All that happens is that she sometimes flies away to gather some food, and we don't ever do anything at all!"
"I seem to remember that there was something very important I said to you, and that was "Please don't call me �Lady�"." Both Krone and Elzie quickly turned towards the Dragonite, whose low, deep voice had made them realize all of a sudden that their conversation had not been as private as they had thought. "I had hoped you would remember that." The Dragonite was still facing away from them, but Krone still lowered his head.
"I'm sorry, Kyhra," he said lowly. He waited for a moment, then he asked:
"Did you hear everything Elzie and I just talked about?" The Venonat was still rubbing her antennae. She knew Kyhra was someone to be respected, and she was mostly ashamed of Krone's apparent mistrust, as if it were her own fault.
"I heard every single word," Kyhra replied. Elzie just felt more and more embarrassed, but the Farfetch'd did not, apparently. He stepped closer towards the Dragonite and held out his leek in a somewhat accusing manner.
"Then what do you have to say?" he wanted to know. "Why don't you want to teach us?" Very slowly, Kyhra turned her head and her gaze came to rest on Krone.
"There is nothing I have to teach you," she said calmly. Elzie looked up. With Kyhra having fixated the Farfetch'd, it seemed a bit easier to talk.
"But... that is why our parents brought us here," she mumbled, her voice becoming lower as the Dragonite turned around completely in order to face the children. "They said you'd... teach us..." She fell silent. Kyhra nodded slowly.
"Your parents," she spoke, and a small sarcastic grin appeared on her face. "Yes, I can imagine your parents having said a lot of things to you. Look at me, I'm living alone on top of a tall mountain!" She stood up, and both Elzie and Krone took a step back, intimidated by her sheer size. "Everyone knows that living all by yourself in a place that's really hard to reach makes you a smart person! And everyone knows that such a person loves to teach others the only good way to get through life! Well, your parents were wrong!" She turned around once more and pointed to the ground. "If anything has made me smart, then the forest did. That's why I came here. This mountain is just a place where I can stay without being bothered by anyone." Elzie thought this meant that they should just keep quiet for the rest of the day and leave Kyhra alone, but Krone had apparently not understood the Dragonite's words this way.
"Well..." he spoke slowly, "if the forest has made you smart, then there are some things you can teach us, right...?" Kyhra sat down on her rock once more and shook her head.
"You're not here to learn," she said lowly, "you're here to be safe." Elzie and Krone looked at each other. They were rather surprised by this answer.
"What would we need to be kept safe from?" the Farfetch'd asked.
For a while, there was silence. Krone already wanted to repeat his question, but the Venonat beckoned for him to keep quiet. After what seemed like minutes, Kyhra finally spoke:
"The fire... The whole forest is burning..."
Krone frowned and walked up to her side. From there, he could clearly see the trees down below. There was nothing that would have seemed unusual to him.
"I can't see anything," he said after a moment. "Where is that fire supposed to be?"
"It's everywhere," the Dragonite replied. She looked down at the Farfetch'd next to her, and he winced slightly under the hard stare of her black eyes. "It's inside of you, and inside of every Pokémon down there. They set the entire forest ablaze." Krone just kept looking up at her in a completely oblivious way. Kyhra sighed deeply. She knew she was not good at talking to others and having lived alone on top of this mountain for years certainly did not help in this matter. "Don't you remember how you felt when you found out that Elzie's mother is an ardent admirer of Yoric?"
"Yoric?" the Farfetch'd repeated angrily. He turned towards Elzie, raised his leek and shouted: "How can your family support such a terrible person?! I can't believe that..." The Venonat cowered in fear, but Kyhra quickly cut him off.
"Be quiet!"
It had sounded more like a growl than like anything else, and so Krone immediately stopped talking and looked to the ground. "You see, that is what I mean!" the Dragonite went on, now obviously enraged. "It's everywhere! Even someone as shy and gentle as you got consumed by it!" She was pointing at Elzie, who shivered slightly as she was expecting to get yelled at, too. "Do you remember how you didn't want to talk to Krone for days after you had found out that he is the son of Holstin?" The Venonat was, once again, rubbing her antennae. She did not say anything in return.
"That's something completely different!" Krone suddenly exclaimed. "My father is fighting for everyone in that forest! Kalaan does not have any right to rule, he tricked others into accepting him as their leader, and nowadays, nobody wants him anymore! But my father is loved by everybody, he is well known as a very intelligent and strong Farfetch'd who just wants what's best for everyone, and..."
"That's enough!" Kyhra was taking deep breaths. She had trouble keeping herself calm, and still she knew she would have to endure even more of this. The Dragonite closed her eyes for a moment, and when she opened them again, she was looking at Elzie.
"Elzie, please tell us something about Yoric," she said. "Krone will not interrupt you." The Farfetch'd looked surprised for a small moment, but quickly understood that there was an "or else" hidden in that sentence. He decided to keep his beak closed.
"Yoric is... a Vileplume, who is tired of everyone constantly fighting for leadership in the forest," she spoke, her voice shivering a little, as having the Dragonite's full attention was making her feel a bit uncomfortable. "He... He says that it would be better to live without leaders... He says that everything can be fine, as long as we just don't try to rule over each other..." Kyhra nodded.
"And still, he has a lot of Pokémon following him who would do everything he says, doesn't he?" The Venonat swallowed.
"That's true," she mumbled, "but he says he would only be their leader until everyone has understood that they do not need leaders, and then..."
"I'll tell you what happens then," the Dragonite interrupted her in a firm, serious tone. "He will make sure that everyone thinks the same way he does, and in order to do that, he will need to stay the leader for a while. He would have everyone who opposes him slaughtered, just for the greater good, of course. And afterwards, he would decide to stay the Pokémon's leader, just in case that a new problem might come up. He has to make sure that everyone is safe and protected, after all." Elzie looked at the ground, but Krone nodded. He seemed to be satisfied.
"That's right, Yoric is nothing but a huge liar," he said. "My father..."
"Your father, in case he will actually beat Kalaan, would be this forest's fifty-seventh king," Kyhra spoke loudly. "His supporters would be satisfied with him for a while, maybe even for three or four years. Then something would change. Everyone would suddenly hate him. He would be the new Kalaan, there would be a new Yoric, and there would be a new Holstin." The Farfetch'd looked up at her, and she saw pure anger in his eyes. However, he did not say anything for once. Kyhra sighed.
"Do you even know how old I am?" she asked lowly. "Do you even know how often this has happened already?" Her gaze wandered from Krone across Elzie, and finally came to rest on the forest below. "Everyone says it would be different this time," she continued, still keeping her voice low. "Everyone... believes..." She shook her head. "But it's just the fire speaking through them," she mumbled. "Every single one of those trees will be set ablaze over and over again, and each time, so very many Pokémon will have to die... And the fire will never leave, there will always be someone keeping it alive..."
There was a short moment of silence.
"You're wrong," Krone said. "My father will beat Kalaan, and he'll bring justice and happiness to the forest. Everything will be fine." Kyhra looked at him for a rather long time.
"You may go and set everything on fire, if you want to," she spoke, "but leave me alone. I am so very sick of Pokémon like you." The Farfetch'd kept staring at her. After a while, he nodded.
"Fine," he said loudly. "I'll leave. You'll see I was right someday." He bit down on his leek so that he would not drop it and then flew away. The Dragonite watched his slow decent into the forest, until she heard Elzie's low, shy voice.
"Kyhra...?" She turned around and saw that the Venonat had stepped up to her side. "I don't want to go back into the forest... Can I please stay with you?" Kyhra blinked and then smiled. She reached out with her paw and gently ruffled through the thick fur on top of Elzie's head.
"Of course you can, little one. Don't worry about anything. Up here, we're safe from all that trouble."
They both looked at the forest for a few more moments, then went inside the cave.
(1997 words)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Chapter End Notes:This ends the sixth chapter. As usual, if you have comments, suggestions or anything you'd like to talk about, please write a review or send an email to [email protected] . I hope you liked this chapter, and I'll do my best to upload the next one tomorrow. It will be called "...your hips on mine make a choir...".
Please be free...
-- Lion vom Silberwal