Warrior Eevees #1: The Storm of Fire

22- The Quest

The Dragon-Types arrived that sundown. Meteor was easily as large as Derrick, with a blunt orange muzzle and short white antennae. His blue wings seemed a bit short for his heavy body, but he plowed through the air easily as swiftly as Derrick. With Meteor's inclusion, that meant the entire traveling party would be able to fly, and therefore move much faster.

Derrick had spilled a pile of charts and books onto the dry ground when he appeared. He'd spread a huge map of multiple regions across the ground and pointed with one claw.

"We tracked Raikou's movements," he rumbled. "We believe he would be in this area, out in the wilds between regions. It's pretty far to the east, and actually a little south of here. We don't know exactly where Raikou is, but once we get closer, we can hopefully find a bird Pokémon or something that keeps track of the storms in the area."

Hollyhock and the other leaders were staring blankly at the paper he had brought. They had had the concept of a map explained to them several times, but as small things like the Moss Rock or the village of the Sand Tribe weren't marked, it extended far beyond their world.

"I'm sure you know what you're doing," Pearl said generously.

"I'm not," Wildfire growled. "How do we know this isn't a plot to take away our best fighters?"

"You were the one who was worried about the Storm of Fire in the first place!" Starset exclaimed exasperatedly. "Remember, when you sent Daylight-"

She was cut off, perhaps sensibly, by a loud cough from Avalanche.

Emmy, who did understand the map once she was looking at it, did her best to explain what Derrick was saying:

"We'll follow the mountains that way, toward the rising sun, and turn to fly through them when we see a big river flowing out to the other side," Emmy described. "We'll follow the river a way toward the ocean, which is a giant saltwater lake on the other side of the mountains. Once we're there, we might have to ask around for more instructions."

"A giant lake?" Wildfire asked suspiciously. "I don't think a Fire-Type will be able to handle that kind of place. What do you think, Shine?"

"If Emmy trusts them, then I do, too," Hollyhock said evenly. "I suggest you all leave as soon as the sun rises. It sounds like you have a long journey ahead of you."

Shine, fortunately, was even grumpy to fellow Flareon, and seemed to take Wildfire's doubts as an insult.

"I'm sure I'll survive, Wildfire," she drawled. "And if I don't, you can stop complaining about me."

 Emmy clung to Rogue's back beside Sycamore two days later. They were cruising free and easy through the sky, a sweet wind to bolster Rogue's wings. To their left and slightly in front was Derrick, who flew with Rush, Krowcoat, and Aqua between his wings. Derrick barely seemed to notice their weight and was holding a tool Emmy remembered as 'compass' in one claw.

On the other side of Derrick was Meteor, the big Dragonite, with Shine and Crystal. Crystal had specially requested the huge Dragon-Type, apparently reassured by his solid, imposing stature next to Derrick's more lean form and Rogue's fluffy avian frame. Crystal was clearly regretting it, because Shine was taking every opportunity to complain about her. The other Eeveelutions yelled at Shine from their positions in the sky, but there was nothing they could do about it, the Flareon was quite a way away.

Shine wasn't what bothered Emmy most about Meteor, though. What bothered her most was the content of the bag he wore slung over one shoulder. It was mostly empty, but from what she had seen inside, it did contain were a few books. Leatherbound old books. The runes on the spines were embossed in flaking gold.