Chirin listened to the trees batting in the brisk morning breeze as 
he quickly put space between himself and Farm. As much as it pained 
him he had to let it lie for now. He had too many other things to do. 
Each thing he encountered seemed to sink him deeper down in a 
quagmire. Would he ever outpace it and come up clear again, to that 
place of light he longed for--the place where all he had to worry 
about was keeping watch for enemies and finding the tastiest grass? 
When he could dash out under Phos waving his tail, beaming *denki* 
behind him...only caring about what games to play and what stories to 
tell? 

What a story he would have to tell Azalea when he found her at last. 

"Are you okay, Selden?" He checked back at the lamb, hoping that he 
hadn't taken the rejection of Farm too badly.

"Yes," said Selden. "The farm isn't my home anymore, Chirin, my 
home's with you." He wagged his tail. Chirin knelt and hugged him.

"You're my dear light-friend," he said in Selden's ear.
Chirin padded out past where the bushes gave way to windblown grass, 
and out onto silty sand. Shivers overtook him. The lake loomed out 
wide and Phos beamed past the treetops on its far side. To his far 
right stalked the unown island, standing sentinel with its dark spire 
stone. There were beacons of dark just like beacons of light, he 
thought.

He stood there staring at the lake, studying its flow and glisten. It 
was very alive and very aware of him. He almost felt into himself for 
the unowns' continued presence inside, as he gazed at the spire.

He held out his arms to feel the light waterward wind and spun 
himself around. Up the beach, past an inward jut of shallows and some 
reeds, stood the big tree...and he heard voices--the raucous 
dialectic cawing of a Murkrow-like bird which then took off. He bent 
his head up and back, watching it flap high and away.
The strange bird with the murkrow voice but plumage too colorful to 
be one, had been an omen. A good omen, about the lake. "That out of 
dark can spring colors," said Chirin. Now he looked to where the bird 
had been calling, and when a feather fell from it he ran onto the 
beach and picked it up. He strung it on his belt, which now held 
several sacred objects that had graced him with their arrival. He 
slid the belt around so that he could keep his right flipper on the 
antler as he walked up towards the big tree on the lake's edge. 
Touching that antler, he helped channel the faint rub of Haru that 
clung to it. Haru made a ram a ram and any ram in need of special 
strength couldn't go wrong by gently asking small favors of him, 
Chirin reasoned. He uttered a chant under his breath and walked up 
the beach with Selden next to him.

Their hooves left two sets of tracks in their wake.

A skittering Sandshrew caught his attention with its movement, and as 
Chirin drew closer he caught the scents of the pokemon up there. He 
stood at the edge of a wall of reeds, with water yawning between 
them, and watched, as well as he could past the stalks.

Trying to see, Selden sauntered through them but his legs sank into 
water. Terrified, Chirin lifted him out and set him back on dry land. 
The lake had crept up on them, hiding among the stalks.

Chirin remembered the pokemon he could see through here. It was an 
old pokemon, and the other old pokemon who had spoken in his head. 
Like the unowns. And he had been most unfriendly. Still, everyone had 
days when dark won them over just a little bit...Perhaps he was 
friendly now.

But he could not take chances. He needed to protect himself. 

"Come on. I have an idea."

Chirin ran off away from the beach, into the woods. He only stopped 
once, to scrape some reddish lake silt onto the tip of a flipper. 
Then he was off.
"What are we doing?" said Selden, looking in wonder as Chirin began 
to dab the rich clay onto himself. "What are you going to be?"

"A sudowoodo," he said, painting brown spots on himself. He found a 
few green apricorn shells. They were split open, nibbled or just 
plain rotten, but he took those still useable and proceeded to carve 
them up right. "Usokki is master of disguise and concealment. I will 
need that to approach...him out there. It's all I can do--I don't 
know if he's with the lake or not. I fear he might be."

He thought of taking on the fleetness of a Stantler--he had the 
antler, which would help to endow him. But this was a power that 
bypassed all fleetness. He had also thought of the bird, or a Murkrow-
-but the spirits had told him it wasn't  right. This was his best bet. 
He strung one half of an apricorn shell round his neck and two more 
on each upper arm (he would have done 3 but was one short). He 
painted a Y-shaped mark on his forehead, just under his wool. And 
finally he placed a stone within the one whole apricorn shell. 
Sudowoodos were really stone and this would be the heart of his 
essence.

"I am not all Sudowoodo," he said. "I'm only partway. This way I can 
still use my own *denki* and powers if I have to. The ancestor I 
spoke to said I have a gift and I don't want to go without it." Even 
though he couldn't do much with it anyway, it was a gift from his 
ancestors.

He began a dance to solidify this and embody it. Around the trees he 
hopped and shook the apricorn shells. "I am Usokki!"
Selden joined Chirin, following him as he weaved his way around the 
trees. "I'm Usokki too!"

Chirin slowed his dance, just as he had begun to sweat into it. 
Selden would need that protection too. He began to hunt out a good 
guise for Selden as well, namely apricorn shells. Finding two more, 
he tied them loosely around Selden's neck, taking silk from his belt 
(where he had used extra, luckily). He ran out to the beach, grabbed 
up some more silt, returned and painted Selden's forehead with the Y 
pattern.

Now he took up the dance and song anew. Swooping and pouncing, hiding 
and popping into view, he was in disguise as a tree... as was 
Sudowoodo. He too had powers of mimicry. and Selden, in tow, mimicked 
him, the perfect Usokki!

Chirin use the last of that silt to make finishing embellishments on 
his body paint, putting a pattern of spots and stripes over himself 
from head to toe, putting a few dabs on Selden too. The process took 
a while but he knew it was worth it. He stepped out from the forest 
no longer a flaaffy.

"Usokki," he whispered. The apricorn half-shells clanked in the lake-
breeze.

Chirin strode out towards the distant kadabra and Celesteon, swept 
over by pulses of remembrance. They came from a better time...but 
maybe it hadn't been such a day of light as he recalled. He just 
hadn't known the shadows were there.

The dark reddish brown clay dried on his belly as Phos touched them.
Turning so Phos kissed his right ear, Chirin walked towards the great 
big tree slowly and carefully, and not without fear. He shone his 
tail bright, keeping it pointed just to the right of center. It 
pointed out towards the unown island.

He licked the inside of his mouth wet again and wiped the palms of 
his flippers off on his wool ruff, careful not to smudge his paint. 
He had left his wool free of paint for the most part. And he began to 
chant as he stepped closer.

'Apricorns clack, you should know, you should know
I am Usokki. I'm not what I seem.
Silt dries like bark, as I go, as I go,
I am Usokki.'
The water's moods could often be read by its surface, without even 
stepping in. Few things talked so expressively as water. Chirin kept 
his eyes on the lake out behind the tree as he strode up to Spirit. 
One hand rested over the antler on his belt, the other lightly 
brushing the Sneasel feather. Chirin peered out from a painted face 
at the two pokemon and stopped an arbok's length from them, not sure 
how to begin. Why, exactly, was he coming here? What was he going to 
say? He knew he was going to tell them about Goldie, but in what way? 
How to tell them about her needing a friend without inducing extreme 
pain to himself?

What if he tried to use his gift now? It was a little late to hone it 
but he was unwilling to let the Ruriri just sit down there wasting 
away while he took time learning.

But what if he just tried to use it right now. He brought up the 
sense, feeling the air for currents, and brought the little feeling 
finger towards that place between his eyes. Then he was seeing two 
worlds at once--one, the kadabra and the old pokemon, the other, the 
electricity flowing inside him. "Unowns," he whispered, and felt a 
warning ache, but no more. He pressed his flipper harder on the 
sneasel feather and pried deeper into his mind. "Unowns," he 
whispered again, honing in, like echolocation, into where the pain 
originated. Out past the tree a the wind blew a rift in the rippling 
lake surface. Chirin realized that the lake was every bit aware of 
what he was doing. "I mean only love and light," he whispered. "I'm 
sorry if you don't."

With his electric sense finally wending its way into the back of his 
head, he let it rest there, concentrating. Now he turned his 
attention back to the two pokemon.

The sandshrew was there now too, and was looking at Chirin curiously. 
Chirin smiled at him.
The little Sandshrew darted over to Spirit, hiding behind his tail.

"Bigga strange tree-thing," it whimpered. 

Spirit patted it reassuringly on the head. He stood, supporting his 
weight on his tail, and frowned at the tree. Except that it wasn't a 
tree. It was a rather dirty looking Flaaffy, covered in strange 
spots and clinging to a she stantler antler.

"Why, hello little one," he said, a little suspciciously. "What 
brings you here?"
"Oh, I didn't mean to scare you," said Chirin to the sandshrew. He 
felt bad to have scared the poor thing, maybe it wasn't used to 
seeing half-flaaffy half-usokkis. "I won't hurt you, I won't hurt 
anyone. I'm Chirin-chirin, of the beacon flock of Pharos. I'm 
here..." he looked out over the lake, then fixed his dark eyes back 
on the frowning kadabra, and Celesteon, whom he found easier to look 
at. "I'm here...to..."

He closed his eyes and breathed in deep. He shifted his 'gift' a 
little further back into his head, keeping the connection. Never had 
he tried to hold onto it and talk to people at the same time. 
Squinting in the sun, he looked up at the kadabra, who looked as 
unhappy to see him now as he had when he'd been a lamb. "I'm here to 
help someone. Her name's Goldie. She's a baby--a ruriri, and she 
lives trapped all alone on...the unown island." He waited for the 
pain to stab him, but it did not come. The lake's surface made no 
apparent reaction. Chirin went on. "I came here to find a friend for 
her...but what she needs is to get off that island. It's full of 
darkness and danger. But I can't rescue her myself. I'm--I'm full of 
darkness too." He held his hand steady on the sneasel feather and the 
prickling antler, drawing from their powers. He smelled the changing 
leaves on the tree--Haru knew he was in need of strength. Chirin went 
on.

"I went there and I fell under the spell too. They've possessed me." 
Chirin tried not to cry, he tried very hard not to cry, but sa usual 
it did not work, and his tears ran soft little tracks through the 
dark reddish brown clay paint that he had applied so carefully. "I--I 
don't even know why I'm able to talk of them to you..."

But then it hit him why. In terror Chirin took a step backwards, 
towards the eaves of the forest and the trees that were close to him 
right now that he was part usokki. He sort of wiggled the little 
connection he had to himself, just to remind himself it was still 
there. "Please," he said, "I can only beg you...and the unowns...not 
to hurt me any more. I just want to help Goldie and free myself, and 
find my friend Azalea. I've run through forests of dark and spoken to 
my ancestors. I've seen evil in the spire like you could never 
imagine."

At this he sensed a lifting in the back of his head, the unowns 
unsettled by his speaking ill of them. Chirin readied the connection, 
trying to discern where it was coming from and how it was 
manipulating the inside of his head. "Do you know..." he pressed 
himself into concentration, then trailed off. This pokemon knew how 
to help, if there was a way. He knew about the lake's dark, and maybe 
even about Chirin's visit. He looked at Chirin unflinching and 
unmoved by anything he had said, almost like he had been expecting to 
hear it. And ...how could you not be so ancient, and live on its 
shores, and speak to people's minds...and not know? 

"Are you of the lake?" Chirin took another very slow step backwards, 
awash in a sweat and flash of fear. Selden bleated and bounced his 
front legs off the ground, waiting only for Chirin to turn and run.
This pokemon seemed more dark to him the longer he stood there, but 
Chirin realized that if he was one with the unowns, it had been 
useless and quite dangerous to approach him at all, and if he wasn't 
(which seemed peculiar, considering the unowns' holding back their 
voices and blows from his head) he had been rude to just stumble up 
and ask for help. He stepped forward again and, still avoiding direct 
eye contact, he sniffed the air between them, getting as close a 
sniff of the strangers as he felt he should. 

His flock had never been big on names--formal introductions were a 
matter of sniffing and circling, and names often came once the ice 
was broken and everyone knew their place. But they were already 
speaking now...even if they were not friendly. And the kadabra's 
disapproving gaze told Chirin where his place was. He glanced at 
Selden, not sure whether the lamb wanted his own name told. He would 
leave that to him. He turned back to the yellow, whiskered pokemon 
who stood with his back to the great tree like both he and the tree 
were an extension of the lake.

"What are your names?"
Chirin's eyes rolled upwards, gazing at the sky. Watakko was clear 
and bright and he faced her and her lifetime mate. *Watakko and Phos, 
please look on me now. I'm scared. Please let me know that I'm not 
treading into more dark that will infect me.* He smelled the fear of 
his own body beneath the earthy clay's scent. 

And a song came to him.

*Watakko big, Watakko wide, Watakko fluffy and blue,
Blow a breeze or drift a cloud
Send me a sign that's true.*

Chirin was completely unfamiliar with the feeling that swept around 
him, but it was not a "wrong", dark feeling. Wisps of wind tickled 
his skin and then a small piece of fluffy white stuff--a seed or 
something? floated down in front of his face. It danced away towards 
the kadabra's face before the air tossed it back behind them.

"Watakko," he said aloud. But even as he said it the feeling began to 
overtake him again, that wispy windy feeling that the kadabra did not 
seem to see. Some friendly spirits had gathered and were capering 
around him--but who, and what, were they?
Spirit shook his head at the strange Pokemon. What was up in its 
head? Could it not see that he had bigger concerns? Then what it 
had said sunk in. 

"The darkness in the spire?" He questioned, "there is no darkness in 
the spire. There is just the Unoun, and they never do anything 
without due reason. Now, if you'll excuse me, Watakko or whatever 
you call yourself, I have an army to organise." 
"But, Goldie, a little ruriri..." Chirin trailed off as the kadabra 
looked away. An army? He was unsure what that was, but wasn't 
that...like a very big group of creatures?

He brushed aside the Flaafy's comments. "I trust you have met with 
the Unoun, and they have done something to upset you, but understand, 
the Unoun are not the evil here. They sometimes do things that 
appear odd to you, perhaps even cruel, but they never do anything 
without good reason, and they never do anything that is not for the 
good of the lake. And yes, I have lived here long - longer then many 
of these trees," he sighed, "and I expect I shall die here, and 
soon. You would do well, little one, to concentrate your efforts not 
on your imagined darkness and your fantasies of night creatures - I 
have heard you sheep-types put great stoke in your faerie tales, but 
it is time now to identify the real darkness, the monster that will 
rise form the underworld and take us all on.

And kill me."
Tears rolled down Chirin's face. "Yes...yes...there's a darkness, but 
it's not imagined--they really are inside me and Goldie really is 
down there. She's wilting--like a flower. But..." 
Kill him, he had said? How could he know it would kill him? Was he 
going to fight it until it killed him? Oh...the poor thing. That the 
unown were not dark--he couldn't believe it. They were part of this 
great darkness--and it would soon rise up, to here?

The great mound of fur rose its head. "Be gentle on the child," he 
said, and his voice was lilting and kindly. "I shall purge his 
fears, old friend, if you chose to continue in your tasks." He 
nodded at Chirin, "I, Celesteon of the high mountain, welcome you 
here." He motioned encouragingly at the Kadabra.

Spirit nodded, rather brusquely, "most call me Spirit," he said, 
gruffly, "I am the guardian of this lake and its inhabitants. and 
currently very, very busy, if you will excuse me!" And, cloak 
billowing around him, he stalked imperiously away.

Celesteon sighed. "Do not mind him, child, he is old and his social 
eptitude has sunk to a new low. Forgive him his ill manners and his 
ill grace. You are concerned about the Unoun, yes? Well, tell me 
all about it and I shall try to explain to you why they do as they 
do."

He rolled over, motioning with one paw for Chirin and Selden to come 
closer.
Selden started towards him but then looked at Chirin. Chirin, swamped 
in crying, just nodded his head and blinked his waving tail, saying 
it was safe. 

"Oh...Celesteon...I remember you." Chirin scooted in close and knelt 
by him. He took Celesteon's paw briefly. "Thank you. You're so nice. 
I'm so sorry I had to come to you now, like this...I'm tainted by 
that dark, I'm touched, it's inside me and it won't go away."
"Oh you poor, poor youngling,' Celesteon said sadly, wrapping one paw around the Flaafy's shoulders. "Don't mind the ol' fellow - Spirit's just got a lot on his mind. He can sense his own death, you know. And there is no darkness in you - you're as pure and bright as they come!" He put his large paw under the Flaafy's chin, lifting it so Chirin looked him in the eye. "I can see the kindness and purity in you. What has happened is that you have been touched by darkness, and it as scarred you, but it does not mean you have darkness inside you - merely that you now know darkness exists."
Chirin sighed...no, that darkness had touched him and it was inside 
him. And it wouldn't leave...It was not darkness that Celesteon could 
see because it was inside him.


<> 
"There, there," Celesteon wrapped his paw around him, and held him patiently, until he had sorted himself out.

All that he had been about to say wobbled away in sobs and Chirin let 
it all out, trying repeatedly to regain himself. "Oh, 
Goldie...Azalea..."

He sniffled and sat up again. Lookig down at his ruff he saw reddish 
brownish streaks. His paint had run all over the place. But it had 
fooled no one anyway. 

"He says his name is Spirit? He--he didn't believe me." Chirin 
swallowed and wiped his nose on the back of his hand. "He said the 
unowns aren't cruel--but they are. They have Goldie down there. I 
tried to--explain to them that Goldie can't just stay and live down 
there but they kept saying she couldn't go. Goldie's my friend, she's 
a baby marill. I met her on the island. But she has to stay down 
there alone all the time and they are all around her and inside her. 
I left to try to find a way to get her out of there--but then I knew, 
that they got me too. I get a pain inside me when I try to talk about 
them. Not now, but before. I feel them in there right now. And 
sometimes I hear them too. Oh...they are dark and if they are coming 
up like Spirit says..."
"He is right, child, the Unoun are not evil. But I feel perhaps I should explain. And he is did believe you - he just choses not to listen. It is an escape. The Unoun are almost as old as he, you understand, they work for the good of the lake as a whole. However, as you've noticed, whilst what they do may be doing is for the good of the lake, it is not necessarily good for particular individuals. It is like in a war - if one person must die, or suffer, to save many, is it acceptable to make that sacrifice? Or should you try and save that one, and condemn the rest of them? In Goldie's case it is different. You see, Spirit handed over his duty some time ago, to a Golduck, and went into a sort of retirement, until he was needed. She dragged him out of it for preparation for a fight some moons ago now. And then she died." He paused, staring hard at Chirin. "And her name was Goldy. Just as your friend is named. And that is why Goldie is special, because her spirit lives on in the body of that little ruriruri." He patted Chirin again. "The Unoun are protecting her, because there are those that would seek to destroy the reborn shaman. It was them who put the wheels in motion that would bring her back to the world." His eyes narrowed, "please understand, you, neither of you, must speak of this to anyone. It is like the Unoun. Certain things must be kept private, but I tell you because you have to know, because then it might ease your mind, at least a little. 

"I won't tell," said Chirin. Selden blinked his tail in 
agreement. "You've trusted me with something of her ancestors, her 
spirit. That is something that should never fall into the wrong 
hands." He paused. But the unowns were in his head and they must know 
his ancestors' names. No. He would not have it. Inside his mind a 
flame flared up...

Celesteon drew him in closer as the fear overwelmed him, holding him until the tremours ceased. His old, wise face, haggard as it now was, held nothing but the utmost compassion. "You must understand," he said, when Chirn had stopped shaking, "the Unoun are different . They are not alive, and therefore do not experience emotion as we do - not love, not hate, all they know is that they must set things upon the right track, so that the future can happen in a manner to benefit us all. They cannot see the pain they have caused young Goldie, because they experience no loneliness, no despair. They are not alive, anymore then this rock is alive." He rolled a pebble on his paw. "Sometimes they take a bit of understanding. But they can learn - and you have helped them understand, so that now maybe they can help Goldie a little better."
Chirin touched the little pebble, he reached out his hand and stroked 
it softly. He hoped it had not heard, but knew it had. The littlest 
rock had a soul extending deeper than anyone could sense. They 
breathed centuries and sighed millenia. 


*We are not evil,* said the unown.

Chirin jumped up, clutching his head and backing away from them 
all. "YES YOU ARE! Oh..." He broke down again and held his head as he 
crumbled down. "Get them out of me, help me!" he cried, to no one and 
everyone.

He lay there until he felt his breathing return to normal. He sat up. 
Sand clung to his wet face. With his paint smeared all over him, with 
tears and sand smudged all through it, he sure looked a sight. Now he 
vaguely recalled having lost all control of himself the last time 
he'd been here. When he had been no more than a lamb.

He was no more than a lamb now, just a bigger one. He looked down the 
bridge of his clay-smeared nose, out at Celesteon.

"I'm so sorry," he said, clutching his knees and rocking back and 
forth. "No matter what I do they're there. No matter where I go or 
how I try I can't make the spirits leave. And Spirit said--he said 
that it's just a story about Celebi or something, I don't know, I 
don't remember much about Celebi. I only know, that the unowns are 
really there in that island and that the lake...The lake's possessed 
me with shadows. They're real. They're not imagined. Celesteon, I 
know that...this is probably beyond you or anyone here to help me 
with, I know I have to overcome it myself. But I don't know where to 
go next or what to do."
"Once you have met the Unoun, they will follow you, they must, to make sure that their presence is not known. Only those that are worthy can enter their caverns, only those whose fate is important. As hard as it is, child, you must listen to them, or they will hurt you, and the hurt will get worse and worse."
Chirin felt weak with shock...No...it couldn't be...He stood there, 
listening as Celsteon went on, forcing himself to listen. Celesteon 
would tell him. There had to be a way


He nearly went on to tell Celesteon about what Mure had said and 
done, but didn't. That had nothing to do with anyone but Chirin 
himself. When your ancestors spoke to you about personal things, it 
was often best to keep it private. 

"Could it be...is Spirit saying...that it's all being caused by this 
big dark thing he just told about?" That if it was defeated, Goldie 
and Azalea would be free? He wanted to run back to Celesteon but sat 
where he was, afraid he would inadvertantly let the shadows pass from 
him to the eon, but he was also ashamed. He looked down at his 
bunched up legs. 

Selden stood fearfully off to the side between the two of them, 
waiting for things to come clear and this bad moment to pass.
"In the early times, before you were born, or your father, or your father's father, there were two forces. They were not real things, but essences, the spirit of night, and the spirit of day. At first there was no distinction between the two - they were one and the same, but then things changed, and the war began. 
Things changed when the life began - not life as we know it, you understand, for this was far before the time of Pokemon, and the two spirits began to argue, each wanted to claim the more beautiful animals - the brighter and more vibrant. And so the sky was torn asunder with lightning, and from their fighting Night pulled a thunderbolt from the sky, and tried to attack Day with it, spearing him, but Day wove his hand and turned it into a big golden bird, and it turned to attack Night. 
Night, in defense, changed more lightning into a great cat and the two fell into bloody battle. 
They fought for countless years - for before that time there was no period of light and dark - and in that time Day created Zapdos, Moltres and Articuno - the birds of power, and Night created Raikou, Entei and Suicuin, the cats of power, and their creations fought and fought and fought! 
And they fought and fought and fought, getting more and more battered and destroying much of the land, until finally the animals of the world got together and told them, 'stop fighting, or you will kill us all!'. And so a truce was formed, and Day could show his face for some hours at a time, and Night could show his, and outside that time, Night would lurk under the ground and Day would fly high above the clouds, so that never could they fight again. 
But Night and Day are still at war, and they will take the chance to battle wherever they can - and so the powers of Day must stand guard, and be wary, for Night's minions are always lurking, waiting their chance."
*You left out Phos...and Bangaa...* But perhaps he had used the words 
Night and Day to mean them? Chirin was confused. And what about 
Mother Megga and Watakko? 

It didn't matter. It was a story of what was said and done, wrong or 
not...He could not get out of his head the warlier words...Their 
continued presence...

He paused for a moment, and coughed for almost a minute, his breath rasping at the end of it, tears streaming down his cheeks from the strain. Finally the Sandshrew handed him the mug and he drank, and regained his breath. "Now, child," he said softly, "err, what were we talking about again?"
"Don't tell me...don't tell me...Their continued presence..." He 
burst into sobs again. "They can't follow me! They can't!" Chirin ran 
in circles, tripping, getting up, heedless of his bruises and 
scratches. Exhausted he fell over and lay there. "I...I'm possessed 
by them. They're in my head." He sat up. "I can't do anyting till 
they're out! I don't care who doesn't believe me! Someone's got to 
believe me!" His body heaved but no tears came out, and his sides 
hurt from the sobbing. He sat there shaking and lurching from the 
convulsions. "Oh Celesteon...I need help...I was told I need to use 
my gift but I don't have a gift very strong...The unowns won't leave 
my head. They silence my songs. They slash up my thoughts!"

He got up and stood out in the middle of the beach, surrounded by 
sand. "By Phos's Tail Light! My ancestors gave me this mind! They 
gave me this body! No one should just--Stab into it! Oh, the dark! 
Oh, Bangaa and Burakuru I am cursed!"

A stalk of lightning shot into the morning sky, reaching a height 
just past the treetops. In the wak of the boom, birds shrieked and 
small creatures scuttled within the bushes.

Chirin stared at the sand in front of him, and then it lurched 
forward and smacked him in the face.

"Chirin!" Selden ran over to his friend. "Chirin! Are you all right? 
Are you all right?"
Chirin rolled over onto his back, seeing a blue sky. Another 
day...another day... Selden's face shaded his as he licked Chirin's 
cheek. But Chirin was drifting downwards, looking out into song, with 
eyes open.

*A brash breeze brays to a brand new morning, but I pine

--all the dead, not dead

I wake up aching, fearing and scorning, and I find

--all the dead, not dead

They all had better bushes to dart from

A fresher run, a field to depart from

Why was I given too little to start from?

I blunder, I wind...
and I pine.*

Chirin saw Selden through flashes, like he was in the dream-realm. 
*The unowns' continued presence...continued presence...*

He must find a way out, oh...Could it be, could it be that he could 
plead them to let him go, could he do another favor for them in 
addition to finding goldie a friend. Could he promise to never say a 
thing about them. If only they had told him. If only they had not 
shown him only half the light.

He could promise....

He could destroy them all, but no he couldn't destroy...no power 
to...nothing...

His gift. Mure had told him about the gift he had. He had used that 
to save his own life, with her help. 

"Mure, where are you now Mure..."

He didn't realize he was speaking aloud.

"...mure..."

*Unowns, go away, unowns...*

"Mure..."

Destroy the spire, sink it into the lake, back in its womb, but no 
nothing can go back into the womb...

Alone. 

All this time Chirin had set out to find his flock, then to find 
Azalea...always searching for a companion...When being alone was 
something he had always taken for granted. And he realized these dark 
shadows would claim him, bit by bit... They were pushing his head 
under and unless he found a way to shoot up, alone and unfettered, he 
would drown.

"Mure...My gift, tell me how to use my Bangaa-cursed gift! Bangaa-
cursed! I'm Bangaa-cursed!"

His body tossed itself fitfully on the shore.

*--all dead, all dead, but the dead are not dead...

Never. They would never be gone.The unowns were in him and he was the 
unowns. He was not Chirin anymore. 

"I'm not Chirin! I'm not Chirin! I'm not me!"

For a moment he saw them on the beach nearby--flits of faces, Selden 
and Celesteon...

He clutched his head. But it was all no use. He had to get them out...

His flippers folded upon hunks of coarse but healthy wool on his 
head, and yanked. Two small clumps came out in two rips of pain, 
bringing the fresh smell of blood.

His arms flew wide, flinging the pulled hair out to either side of 
him and he surfaced, realizing what he'd done to himself. He had hurt 
himself. 

"What did I do?"

He felt a small trickle of blood on his temple and touched the cut. 
He had violated his own body, hurt the great gift his mother had 
borne out on the grass that day and called Chirin-chirin.

"...Oh, Mah-mah, I'm so sorry."

He was so far away from that lamb. So far away from everything that 
he had always thought he was. 

"I am no creature of light. Tell me Celesteon...Tell me...oh...if I 
can convince the unowns...I won't tell anyone anything about them...I 
know now, now that you told me...they have to keep Goldie safe. But I 
didn't know!" He collected another breath. "Oh, I'm so sorry I didn't 
know. Please...I have to convince them...They have to leave my head 
or I'm not me. I'm not! I'm not me!" He fell back again, too weak to 
gather himself and get up...
Celesteon watched the Flaafy in deep concern. The poor mite was 
being driven insane by the voices in his head. If only he had stayed 
away from the Unoun! The Eon had spent the last few centuries 
avoiding the creatures that lived on the island - if one could call 
them creatures, since they did not live and did not feel, because 
their lack of pokemanity made him nervous. They were ... unnatural, 
why did anything need to dictate the lines of fate? Could not fate 
sort itself out.

"There is one way," he whispered, "you must fulfil their mission, 
their task, and allow them to make you forget." He laughed ruefully, 
making himself cough, "although I must say, that is hardly the best 
of ways to do things."
Forget? Never. "It is no way to solve things--forget about them." 
Chenja would have spit her cud on the ground at such a 
suggestion. "And I won't forget. They won't...They won't put me in 
the dark. I've learned and they won't make me unlearn. I'm all I 
have, these thoughts, this life. Oh, great Mother Megga, all I ever 
wanted to do was find Azalea. I didn't know, I didn't know." There 
would be another way. He just had to hang on and see it 
through. "Their pain...their voices...shows something..." Chirin sat 
up again. "They never trusted me. They thought I didn't care about 
Goldie...I have to make them understand. I have to make them trust 
me. Then, then..."

Something the Celesteon had said struck him now, again. *They only 
allow those whose fates are important to be let in.* But everyone's 
fate was important, woven with everyone else's like a great net of 
vines, or like roots entangled at the base of a streamside tree. He 
did not doubt that they could see the future--like trees often could--
but one reason one looked into the future of you or someone else was 
to see whether it could use some changing. He managed a tiny little 
smile for a moment. One's fate could always be changed.

He took long ragged breaths, forcing himself to calm down and resume 
control of himself. He would not let them take any more of him than 
they had already taken. They had tricked him once and he would never 
let them trick him again, which they would be able to if he forgot. 
He realized that he could go through all the motions again, if he was 
not aware. Why didn't he give this mess a chance to mend?

He recalled the one unown, Mysterious...the one who had seemed a 
little more alive. Perhaps there was hope, a light within a dark 
hall. In the meantime, though, he had to find Goldie a friend. If he 
just let their presence in him bear him down and swallow him up, then 
what did that say for his light? And who would bring Goldie the 
companion she needed so much? No, until he use his own still yet-to-
be shone light-path through this twisted forest, he must shine on in 
spite of it. Enough of succumbing to them like this, time to get back 
up and show them that he was not some little flicker easily squelched.

Time to help Goldie, maybe even see her again. He would only do it if 
the friend knew, exactly what he or she was getting into, and who on 
Mother Megga's back would willingly enter such a tryst--except for 
Goldie's sake?

"Celesteon, I have a job to do and I let myself forget about it." He 
felt ashamed again. "The unowns..." Again, the wind formed voices and 
spoke very faintly, do not speak of us. He ducked his 
head. "Oh...leave me alone, please, I'm trying to do what you told 
me." Again, he faced Celesteon, not expecting him to know of someone 
willing to fall into the net of darkness, but maybe he would offer 
some advice. "They sent me out telling me that Goldie needs a friend 
to keep her company down there." He gritted his teeth, bracing 
against pain should it come. It throbbed dully, but let him go on, 
due, he knew, to Celesteon's already knowing. "The problem is I don't 
know who would want to go down there, even though Goldie's so sweet, 
and so in need of another light down there next to her own. They 
asked if I would be her companion, or if Selden would, and as much as 
I cared for her I couldn't leave either of us down there. How could I 
do it to anyone else?"

Selden had accepted the unowns' presence with no fighting. It 
unsettled him, to be sure, but he had every faith that Chirin would 
fix it for him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Slink glanced over his shoulder, in a desperate attempt to see if his siblings were after him. Maybe the run through the current really had thrown them off the trail? Suddenly he felt something wrap itself around him, something that had been floating, invisible, in the water. 
He flailed madly, but it did not help, the invivisible mesh wrapped itself around him, cutting deep into his delicate skin. He tried to call, but his siblings were nowhere in sight - probably having been distracted by some poor sod on the lake shore, he reflected. 
And the mesh dug in deeper. 
Bubbles floated to the surface, as his struggled increased his oxygen consumption and terror, unchained, frantic terror rose in him. He had heard of these things, the silent death that came to those who were unlucky or did not watch their path. And Slink knew that he was unlucky... 
You could hardly call having siblings like that lucky. 
He found his mind wandering, drifting away with the currents. Memories of he and his siblings, all three of them Seel's, although he was the younger of the trio, and they had come to the lake, after a storm that swept them upriver from the south. The waters of the lake were not salty, like they were used to, but they had adapted and made the place home. 
And had immediately started picking on little brother. 
Slink could not remember the amount of times they had made him eat unpleasant substances - including a plastic bag once - talk about ick! And chased him and teased any friends he might make, attempting to drown them and releasing them at the last minute, jerring and laughing, how they would joyfully tear apart any human crafts left resting on the lake, even though he pleaded with them to "stop, please stop!" 
They stole things, from him, from other pokemon, from the people who came for picnics, and they never listened to him when he begged them to stop - always speaking in that oh-so-annoying method of rhyme! 
Sometimes he hated them - but they were the only friends, or semblance of, that he had in the whole world. 
He sighed, remembering the little white creature that had stared at him with friendship in her eyes... but land and water did not mix, and Slink was anything but graceful on land... Once in the water however... 
But that did not matter, because he was going to die... 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As the thoughts spun like unowns in Chirin's head, that fluffy 
flighty feeling overtook him again. A shockwave of shakes ran through 
him. and with it, light.

It was not a light that was easy for him to look at. It was a light 
he saw not with his eyes, but his soul. But it was truth, and it had 
been shining in his face from the first. Only now did he see. He saw 
what the unowns really were, and Celesteon's explanation had helped. 
His seeing Goldie down there had clouded him from realizing that that 
might be the only safe place for her. All this time he had been in 
contact with unowns--and now ithit him what these unowns really were. 
and he felt so stupid.

They were the dead, the ancestors of his ancestors--and they had 
granted him sacred knowledge. For what else could have such power, 
but the dead? What lived all through your veins and your thoughts and 
your lights, but the dead? And what else was always watching you? 
From before his birth they'd been watching him.And when they finally 
had let him entr their cove where they hid, trying to protect sacred 
things, they had enlightened him,and all he had done was fight it. Up 
to this moment he had, him and his foolish fantasies of saving 
goldie. Who was he, to think he could save her from the stirring dark?
"Oh, I'm so sorry." The words were old and worn on his lips. His body 
was still covered with scales of dried clay paint that he had tried 
to hide under, hide from his ancestors. You could not hide from the 
dead and to challenge their power was useless. They binded the living 
to their will and they had kissed him with knowledge. they had 
thought him worthy, and what had he done to live up to that? He had 
jumped to conclusions, thinking them dark, just because what he had 
seen appeared so. He had not tried to understand. He had only tried 
to fight.

The dead...the unowns, the same swirling apparitions who had brought 
him to see Mama. They were all around in the air, the dead were never 
dead, never gone, never left you. He had quested to find Azalea--and 
who else could have implanted such a pull in him to visit that 
island? Hadn't he known deep down that it was a sacred abode? 

He had not understood, but that wasn't what made him feel so ashamed. 
It was that he had not even tried to understand, not really. The pain 
had been to conceal that which should not be commonly known. So 
dangerous were names and knowledge in the wrong hands. Why else had 
it been forbidden to speak aloud the names of one's ancestors to 
another flock? He did not speak of Chenja, Lararu. The unowns were of 
them, lying even deeper in their blood.

"Oh, Celesteon...I've been so wrong."
So here it was, laid out for him now: the truth. The one in the 
shadows had been him all along. Only his own stubborn ideas and 
righteous rage had hidden the light of the ancestors from him. From 
now on maybe he would use his own Phos-given light a little more. 
Wanting to be alone? What besides the dead and the spirits gave him 
songs and ideas? He was never alone, and it would be a curse to be 
so. They had given him sacred knowledge, and it was up to him now 
whether to respect them, or continue to strike out in blasphemy.

He shook all over again as a spirit deep inside flooded him with a 
deep feeling. and he wept, again. So much apologizing and offering 
lay ahead of him, he wondered how he would ever make it up. And 
Goldie's need for a companion to help her weather her necessary time 
down there, came to him once again. If he could find no one to do it, 
he himself would go. It was the least he could do.

Chirin bowed down, prostrating himself on his stomach on the beach in 
deep prayer. He wanted to rush out and cleanse himself in the water 
but he was not yet welcome into the lake he had cursed against. He 
must make up to it. He had hurt its feelings with his own ignorant 
rage.
He thought of all the things he would do to begin healing, to 
rebridge the gap he had made between himself and his ancestors. The 
great big dark must have taken his flock too, and the lake spirit 
must have called him in to tell him, to let him know he could help. 
To think he had almost killed himself trying to beat against their 
power. When all that it must mean was that they had thought him good 
and full of light, and perfect for helping to fight the evil. He must 
make it up to them lest they finally turn on him for good, and strike 
out at him, and those he loved.

*My ancestors, please, please forgive me.*

Chirin stood up, trying to sort it all out in his head. So much he 
had to do, to prepare.

~

Tod'd was doing the back stroke in the water, hoping for some sign
of his family. He had his Leek, which he was as skilled at using as any
other Farfetch'd, carefully placed in his mouth. He suddenly heard some
water splashing up ahead, and nearly bit down on his Leek. He quickly
rolled in the water, and spotted a Seel up ahead. It appeared to be
trapped in something. He swam up to the Seel and very skillfully cut
away the mesh that had the Seel snared, without so much as scratching
the Seel.

"Are you all right?", he asked when he finished getting the Seel free.

Slink was back in the ocean again. Which was odd, because he had not 
been in the ocean for the better part of his life. He was swimming 
amonst the corsola, in hot pursuit of a beautiful sleek young Seel. 
Her body was supple and a sheer delight to look upon. Magikarp and 
Goldeen fled from their path, disturbed by the two predator Pokemon. 
The female paused, and turned to face him, and her face was a 
picture - her eyes large and expressive, her muzzle so delicately 
boned it looked almost breakable. And then she smiled.

Slink thought his heart would surely melt at the touch of that smile, 
that it would melt, and bits of ichor would drift away in the tidal 
currents and instead of having a heart beating away in his chest he 
would have something more fragile, more pure.

His own face slip into a wide smile.

She dove then, deep into the Corsola, flicking her tail as an 
enticement to play. Eagerly he followed her, feeling his own body 
was clumsy when compared to her supple beauty.

The body of Slink, however, freed of its coils, began to sink 
downwards. The young Seel was no longer breathing, and his eyes were 
shut tight against the world.

He tred a fine line between life and death, and for now his fate 
depended entirely on the skills of a quirky Totodile...
~
"Selden." He knelt down closer to Selden'e eye level. Selden's wool 
sparked as he looked at Chirin.

"I'm fine now," said Chirin, still feeling battered and numb, but 
coming round again, beginning to open back up to the world and the 
day. "I'm so sorry I scared you...I was in a great darkness that I 
made myself, and now...I'm free." He held out his arms and smiled. 

Selden began to smile too. He strode into the flaaffy's embrace. This 
was the real Chirin he knew and loved. "you're back...so the real you 
is back?"

"Yes." Chirin's eyes glistened and he sniffled. "And I'm happy to be 
back. It was me all the time, I just didn't know."

Still half hugging Selden Chirin faced Celesteon. 

"I have so much to thank you for," he said. "You helped enlighten me. 
Without you...I'd still be bumping in the shadows. Oh Celesteon thank 
you so much."

Crying he gave the old pokemon a loving, but gentle, hug, burying his 
face in the depths of the fur on Celesteon's shoulder.
This had not only been a blessing by the ancestors in disguise, he 
thought as the inside of his mind flowered with the energy of another 
river of light. His ancestors may have also been testing him this 
whole time--not only with the unowns, but also when he had succumbed 
to the pokenip--and Chirin knew that he had passed. He was on the way 
to righting all this again.

But, one thing he wondered: when had the test begun? He could not 
help but think that it had begun when Azalea disappeared. If she had 
never disappeared, where would he be now and, more importantly, what 
would he be?

But, her light path was important too...It was all so confusing. He 
only knew that he would know, once he finally found her.
Celesteon returned Chirin's embrace. "So glad to have helped you, it 
troubled me so to see you, the way you were, poor child. As for your 
task...There are pokemon out there that are lonely, and do not make 
friends easily. Some would be quite content to remain in one place 
if they were given the chance of sanctuary." 

Sanctuary...Chirin had never thought of it that way, but perhaps it 
was, sort of. It was a place where the dead flexed their powers to 
guard the living. And they had their reasons. "I only hope I can tell 
them all they need to know." He gave Celesten a parting hug; he had 
to get going now. He spoke to the eon's face as it bent in the blur 
of his tears. "I'll be back soon, as soon as I find Goldie a friend, 
and find Azalea...I can't thank you enough for the light you helped 
me see." He swallowed against a burning knot in his 
throat. "Celesteon...my ancestors blessed me by crossing my light-
path with yours."

Celesteon's face was damp with emotion. "And mine with yours, child, 
go well, and may the luck of the green be with you." 

"And--the light of Phos to you. You are a special, special friend."

Chirin ran back, gave Celesteon one more hug, and stroked his soft 
fur. Selden was already waiting to follow Chirin away, back towards 
the lake. Chirin released the old pokemon and headed back away. For a 
while, neither said anything.
Chirin sniffed around for enemies before kneeling to speak to the 
lake again. It seemed fairly clear, but hinted at many diffrent 
pokemon not far away. Far enough away, though, to be safe enough for 
him to take this special moment to begin coming clean to his 
ancestors.

"You were with me in unown form when you showed me Mama...so you are 
with me now. You were with me even when I mistook you for the evil 
you fight...and you are with me now. Because, if you'd left me, the 
evil would have swallowed me up, I'm sure." Chirin paused, not sure 
what to say. He sat up, and removed the green apricorns that had been 
part of his usokki makeup. "I'm hiding no more, I'm tricking no more, 
I'm pretending no more. It took me a long time but I saw the light." 
He took a breath and slid one hooved foot towards the water. Would it 
accept his apology, or burn him with a hiss of agony? His head was 
clear--no trauma, no pain. After being mired under so long at last he 
had stopped fighting the waters, and let himself float to the surface.

"I respect your wishes of secrecy now. I'm looking now for someone 
willing to be Goldie's companion. And if I fail," he swallowed, "I'll 
go myself. I swear..." he trembled, "I swear on my mah-mah's lights."

He paused, then continued to step in. The lapping waves lobbed over 
his foot with cold morning water. They caressed down his foot with 
nothing more than an icy sting. 

Chirin jumped back from the lake. With Selden following bewildered, 
Chirin ran to the bushes and plants, gathering up an offering. It was 
not the best, but it would have to do.

He lay the bits of grass, berries and other things that he had found 
he liked the look or feel or smell of, and laid them at the water's 
edge, where it could lap it up at its leisure. While it did so, 
Chirin took some more of that silt and painted a few of the smooth 
large pebbles he found. He drew patterns and designs, many turning 
out to resemble unowns. He pressed his nose to each one before laying 
it down on the water's edge. The lazy little curls of water plopped 
over the pebbles in a rhythm, slowly ingesting the forms he'd made, 
along with the rest of his offering. 

If he was able to pass by that way again he would return to the rock 
where Mure had come to him and saved him, blessing that spot. They 
had met there and he felt that there they might meet again.

Chirin entered the lake again, in earnest this time. He looked out at 
the island and knew that it watched him, from there and from within. 
Slowly he waded into the lake waters that had decided to forgive him, 
and let him bathe.
~
It appeared that the Seel was in more trouble then he realized. It was
sinking and Tod'd had to think fast. He quickly swam underneight the
Seel and used Bubble, an attack that mean human made him learn. The
Bubbles helped to slow the Seel down. Tod'd quickly swam under the Seel
and slowly pushed him back to the surface. The fact he was in water and
the bubbles really helped him get the Seel to the surface. He used his
body to help keep the Seel's head out of the water. He quickly put his
Leek, which had some what of a strong smell, but not at all bad
tasteing, to the Seel's nose. He hoped it would help the Seel wake up.
~
Selden stood on the shore and watched Chirin bathe. He knew all too 
well how heavy he got in the water, especially with his wool grown so 
long now. He was content to watch Chirin's body sink into the wet, 
and watch him sway and swim.

"Ahh!" Chirin let out a growling breath of exhilaration, smiling back 
at Selden. As he sank to his chin in the water, feeling its warmer 
and colder spots (relative, of course; it was all squeezin' cold) and 
sensing its moods, he heard a splashing commotion out to his right. 
It was a seel, bobbing curiously on the surface. Curiously because it 
was so limp and lifeless. Another closer look told Chirin that it was 
actually being held up, by another pokemon who was waving a sprig of 
onion at its face. Leeks had many powers...

Chirin dashed out of the water and ran down the beach. He could run 
faster than he could swim. "*Mokoko, mokoko!*" he bleated, tail a-
flash. Selden ran beside him. "Do you need help!"
All he could ponder as he raced down the beach was, How could a seel 
be drowning? Had an enemy down there hurt it? Was it wise for him to 
head over there with such an enemy close by? Not that a little 
*denki* didn't keep most water fiends at a safe distance...

Chirin ran into the water with a splash and splosh. The little 
pokemon holding its head above the water seemed too small to hold it 
up.

It was a totodile--a baby feraligatr.

Should he continue? It could be making the seel its dinner, after 
all! Its mother, also, might not be far off...

No, he was clearly trying to save its life. And there was no one else 
around attacking it.

"Water-friends!" he shouted, blinking his tail and sparking loudly to 
get their attention. "Do you need any help?"
The seel still floated unconscious and unresponding on the surface. 
Its soul had left its body.

Well there was one way he knew of that just might call it back. The 
*denki* had powers that way. His life force, channeling just a little 
bit into the Seel to help jolt it back up and open up the soul-path 
to its body again. He waded further in, closer to the seel, and 
released a weak electric shock from his submerged tail.He felt the 
reverberations as it hummed in the water around and beyond him.

*Clutch to you..your electric children...* he thought the words to 
the song he had once sung, focusing on the seel and helping to call 
its soul back into it, as he swam nearer.
SLink was having a grand time, frolicking in the waters with his new 
lady-friend, far, far away from his irritating siblings. The two of 
them dove deep, her digging a Sheldur from the sand with her snout, 
watching it glare and try to lick them in its upset at being so 
rudely awoken. 

They did not hurt it, not like his siblings had.

He was happy now, happier then he had ever been before, in his short 
life.

And then the wavs split apart with a fiercesome golden light, 
spearing straight through the raging waters like a beast untamed.

He flailed madly as the golden spear rammed him through and began 
hauling him to the surface.

The female Seel watched him with her big, sad eyes, and he struggled 
against the claw, but could not escape it...

Slink, the real Slink, pried open his eyes, to find himself staring 
at a worried pink face. At first he thought it was the lady Seel, 
but then, with great sorrow, the truth struck him.

She was gone.

"No!" He shouted, "I was happy! You brought me back from the ocean!"

Tears rolled down his cheeks.
"Oh..." This Seel had been on a spirit journey! "I'm so sorry...but I 
had to," he said, helping to hold up the Seel till he had reached 
fully back into his body. "Your body was drowning. You had died for a 
moment there."

Chirin let the seel wiggle free, feeling his resentment. "If we had 
not pulled up back you might have not been able to come back."
Tod'd had recieved some of the electiric shock, but not really enough to
hurt him. "You weren' in the Ocean. You almost drowned. Me and this
Mareep(Is that right?) saved you.", Tod'd said. "My name's Tod'd by the
way.", he said to both of them. He was still holding the Seel's head
up, he wasn't sure if the Seel was strong enough to swim on it's own
yet
Chirin smiled, despite Tod's fearsome teeth. "Why hi Tod. And hi 
Seel...I'm Chirin-chirin of the beacon flock of Pharos." He made his 
way over intending to make a nose-greeting, but his instincts didn't 
let him. They were still strangers and one was an enemy kind, 
although Tod's friendliness held the magic of the lake and he was 
already feeling like he was friend, not enemy. 

"Seel, water-friend, what's your name?"
He looked into those sad eyes and tried to stay looking happy 
himself, radiating light not reflecting dark. He knew what it was 
like to be snatched from a pleasant dream-journey.
"Friend?" Slink rolled the phrase over on his tongue. "You call me friend?" His eyes lit up for a moment, and then clouded over again. "Name is Slink," he said softly, "but I can not have friends, I'm okay now - leave me on shore, and my siblings'll find me." 
He stared into the strange pink face and the many-toothed jaw of the Totodile and felt a great sorrow in the pit of his heart. He could not have friends - because of his siblings. No-one wanted to be his friend for long - not when Slappy tried to drown then and Happy tried to balance them on his nose. Very few took that indency kindly! He could not understand how Slappy and Happy could stand it, having only each other for company, didn't they ever get lonely? But they never seemed to mind, it was always just poor Slink, weak, pathetic little Slink, the under-seel - playmate when there was none else to be found. 
He moved his flippers now, and found that he could keep his head buoyant, but he was unwilling to dive again yet, he wanted to lie in the sun and rest for a bit. His entire body ached with the lack of oxygen. 
"Can you push me to shore?" He asked Tod'd, "I don't think I can do it myself."
"We could both help," said Chirin-chirin. "And...yes, of course I 
call you friend." The sad face of the seel touched him. Something was 
deeply wrong here and he would help him. As he got his own stubby 
flippers around the seel's bulk as best he could, which was not very 
good but still better than nothing, he realized this seemed like one 
of those lonely souls who preferred their time in the other realm to 
their hours in this one. Because in the other realm, whether there by 
day or night, the lonely almost always found friends. 

Chirin gave kicks of his legs, trying to get them moving. His own 
blubber kept him bouyant, but he was still a slow 
swimmer. "Slink...once...we get you ashore...we can all rest 
together...and maybe even...play a game." It was the best thing he 
could think of for a friend in need.

Friend in need...He remembered Goldie and her even stronger need for 
a friend. Might this Seel...?

He scratched it out of his head, but it still floated there, an 
insistent ghost. The dead needed him to carry this out for the good 
of all...He kicked his hardest, trying to help haul the great white 
swimmer into the shallows for a much needed rest.
SLink felt the sand beneath him and allowed his head to sink onto the 
sand, although he still stared at Chirin with those big, dark eyes.

"Thank you," he said, gently, "friend." The sun warmed his chilled 
flesh and brought life back into his limbs. He had merely been 
underwater too long, he would recover, and swim again.

Then he realised what else the Flaaffy had said; "play a game? What 
sort of game? You're not going to chase me are you?" He let his 
flippers fall at his side. "My siblings play games with me all the 
time - I think you should go, before they come. They'd love to play 
with you, but their games are ... cruel."
"Well I like to play games that are fun, like pretending to be other 
pokemon. There's this game called..." then he trailed off. "Cruel 
games? That's terrible. But...I know what you're talking about. Back 
at my flock, way back home, sometimes lambs got hurt playing Ram of 
the Hill or Flounce-and-Pounce. Maybe...if we talked to your siblings 
they would understand that their games hurt you." He realized this 
seel, although much bigger than him, was young, maybe closer to 
Selden in age than Chirin. 

Selden himself stood on the shore, awaiting Chirin's return. Chirin 
lifted his tail up and flashed his light. "We're almost there!" He 
trained his eye on his woolly friend, who squinted in the sunlight 
watching them.

Chirin opened his mouth to tell Slink about Goldie...but didn't know 
how to begin.
~
"Mecha...? Can we rest...for just...a bit...yes?" Ebony barely kept herself in the air, amazed by the fact that the metallic Pidgeotto didn't look tired in the least. 

Mecha shook his head in reply "We can't YET Ebony! We still have to find that son of the forest!"

Ebony sweatdropped "Did those Unoun ever SAY we couldn't take a pitstop, yes?" 

"But..." Mecha scanned the ground as he flew "I want to be able to pay them back for--" His eyes went big as he spotted a thing that he know knew to be a Flaffy from his time with Chirin in the company of several other Pokemon he couldn't identify. 

Ebony spotted the same thing, and grinned to herself. Well, if Mecha was so stubborn about this foolishness.. "Maybe they know where this sonof the forest is, yes?"

"Maybe!" Beaming, the Pidgeotto descended downwards, a very relieved Ebony in tow.
~
A soaring shadow winged on his vision from high overhead--two 
shadows. Birds, of a dangerous size. But the feathers of one of the 
birds, a Pidgeotto, glinted in the morning light like shards of 
crystal...No, it couldn't be. Could it?

"Mecha?" Chirin's head gazed skyward, staring up at he bird. He 
paddled more furiously, suddenly surging with energy. The spirits 
inside him had spoken. It WAS Mecha! 

"Oh...Oh...OH!" Chirin beached Slink where he could rest with the 
water caressing him, and sloshed up onto the beach.He clutched his 
antler and sneasel feather, which were both soaking wet, feel to the 
beach and kissed the sand in thanks, then jumped up again. "Oh, 
Mecha! Watakko has brought you safe here!"
With surprise, Mecha looked at the Flaffy "Chirin?" As realization 
dawned on him, he grinned "Chirin!" Chirin had evolved! "Watakko kept 
you safe too! And you evolved!"

Ebony gave Mecha an odd look. Great...first he had gone on with some 
farfectched (^_^;) tail about unoun and some son of the forest, and 
NOW he was talking about some sort of...thing keeping that Flaffy 
safe!

Watakko...Watakko...That fluffy whirl of cosmos around him surged up 
again, in full bloom now. Before he knew what was happening, bits of 
cotton were drifting around him. But where were they coming from? He 
looked up to see them fluttering outwards from some place very close 
to him. Some strange wind born of his spirit-aura gusted them gently 
forwards from him. More and more the cotton rained, thicker and 
thicker the blizzard of fluff swirled. It was that thing all 
flaaffies learned to do one day, when Watakko kissed them. It was a 
message from Watakko herself! That great jumpluff whose body spanned 
over the world, had sent Mecha here and then knelt down and kissed 
him. Cottony fluff leaped and played in a swarm. It was getting hard 
to see. 

"Chirin?" called Selden from somewhere nearby. "What is this soft 
stuff?"

"Whoa...uh...How do I stop making this?"

Out and out the cotton poured, obscuring the lake, the beach, the 
sky. "Oh, Mecha! I missed you so much!" He ran out of the little soft 
white storm he had created, only to generate a comet of cotton out 
behind him. Selden ran at his side, in wonder as cotton spores 
streamed out behind them. "Mecha, I'm having trouble...I can't make 
this stop!"

He burst into laughter.
Mecha burst out laughing at the stream of cotton behind Chirin. Ebony 
missed what was so funny...of course, one of the spores had drifted 
onto her forehead and stuck there like a stubborn Meowth kit with 
claws outstretched, standing out against her black as night feathers. 

"It's been too long Chirin!" Mecha said with his always odd beaky 
grin "I haven't seen you since...a long time!" More cottony spores 
stuck to an annoyed Ebony "How do I get this OFF?"

Oblivious, the overly cheerful Pidgeotto continued rambling "How have 
you been? Wow that's alot of fluffy white stuff...where's it all 
coming from?" 
"From me!" Chirin stopped to meet Mecha when he landed, and the 
cotton spores rushed in around him. He focused on the feeling that 
had triggered it and tried to make it stop, waving his arms and 
moving his body in a weird dance as he concentrated. 
Pondering, Mecha added, "Maybe there's an off switch?"

Ebony LOOKED at Mecha "An...off...switch...?" Twitching in annoyance, 
she attempted to pull free one of many by now cotton spores.
The cotton 
finally slowed to a trickle and the last spores sailed away in the 
wind. Most of it settled at his feet, and several of them clung to 
his wool. Chirin scooped up a handful of the cottons, and carefully 
ran his nose and lips against them. They were the softest thing he 
had felt in a long time. He could now make cotton. He knew how it 
felt. Watakko's gift had awoken in him. Once again a small sadness 
echoed the opening of the new ability, for his flock was not here to 
help him celebrate the change.

It quickly dissolved as he saw Mecha there. He ran towards Mecha, 
lifting a ruffle of cotton spores behind him that had just settled on 
the beach.

"Oh, Mecha...I missed you so much." He spread out his arms and his 
eyes glistened. Mecha looked smaller now, but every bit as beautiful 
and brave and wise.
When the birds swooped down, Slink felt his heart flutter madly, but 
lucking Chirin seemed to know one of them - the bright shiny one. 
The Flaafy began ignoring him, in preference for greeting the bird, 
and Slink realised this was his chance.

If he stayed here, his siblings would find him and chase away his new 
friends.

"Friends," the word sounded so nice, rolling of his tongue, but he 
knew he couldn't have friends. He wasn't allowed friends - he wasn't 
allowed anything but his horrible bullying siblings.

He slinked towards the water, surreptiously trying to leave before 
anyone noticed he was doing so.
Chirin's excellent peripheral vision caught a glimpse of something 
white slipping down into the water again. Slink was leaving!

"Uh, pardon me Mecha...There's a seel I just met, and he needs my 
help, I'll be right back." He turned and ran back down the beach, 
waking up half the cottons into a new flutter. Slink was 
shiftinghimself quickly back into the lake but Chirin was running 
faster calling Pika-speed to his feet. He had one hand on the sneasel 
feather, praying he would "pounce" in time.

"Don't go yet! I wanted to talk to you more!"

He ran into the shallows again and reached Slink out-of-
breath. "Slink. If you want, you can make even more friends than just 
me and Tod. I have a Pidgeotto friend, he's the nicest bird around. I 
didn't mean to just leave you here. Just--I haven't seen Mecha since 
I was a lamb, and I got so happy." He smiled, trying to lift up the 
seel's sad expression. Chirin knelt down in the water to meet him 
closer to eye level, though now he looked up at him. "Oh Slink, you 
seem so sad. Is there any way I could make you happy?"
He reached out and touched Slink's smooth shite head, giving it a 
stroke, around the horn. "Please say there's a way. No one should 
have to be so sad. Tell me the dark that ails you. We all have some 
dark--I do, my friends do...but is there something, anything, that 
could help you drive yours out and be happy and light?"
Everything was happening so fast Tod'd didn't know what to think. He
was about to go introduce himself to the two bird pokemon when he
noticed Slink starting to leave. "Don't leave, if we did something to
make you so sad we're sorry.", Tod'd said to the Seel.
"Yes," said Chirin, glancing at Tod. "If there's anything wrong, 
we're here to help you. Please tell us...you don't have to be 
afraid...if there's anything we could do."
Mecha blinked, but nodded "Anything! We're more than willing to help!"

Ebony continued trying to pull the wool from her feathers.
A splashing from further out in the lake attracted Chirin's 
attention. Ears wiggling, he watched, peering around Slink's head, as 
two Dewgongs leaped and plunged in a pattern of arcs towards them.

Slink hung his head.

"Oh, no...I'd better get out of here. Those are my sister and 
brother! You--you'd better leave too...before it's too late..."

"Nonsense, I wouldn't just leave you here," although in truth Chirin 
was starting to feel like he was...in over his head? Those Dewgongs 
were big, and they could easily overwhelm him. *Your denki, use your 
*denki*, the thought sparked in his mind, but then he remembered the 
still-weakened Slink, and Tod here. 

"I'm sure, if we just talked it through--"

One of the Dewgongs swept its tail into Chirin's legs from the side. 
He fell over in the water and the tail hit him again. This time it 
scooped him up. A strong fin whisked him deeper into the lake.

He fought the urge to use his electricity. It could kill Slink and 
Slink could not haul himself out of the water, nor could little Tod 
begin to budge him. He looked around for Mecha but couldn't see him 
anywhere.

"Mech--"

Another dewgong tail dunked him under with a bonk on the head.

Why did he always seem to get into these quandaries when he made new 
friends? Just when he had begun to feel like the spirits had made up 
with him and things were on the mend, right down to Watakko awakening 
his piece of her and giving him cotton...just when he had been 
enjoying the sun again...

He fought his way up and coughed out water. "Help--"

Again the tail slapped down on his head, bowling him underwater. 
Opening his eyes to see the two dewgong merrily circling him, he 
realized that they weren't out to eat him--they were *playing* with 
him.

He splashed messily up at the surface again, dragging in precious 
air. It was rougher play than he was likely to survive! 

"Little pink sheep with a blinking light!" said Slappy, the bigger 
Dewgong, as she used her tail to flip Chirin out of the water, 
propelling him into the air. Chirin felt his stomach sail up as he 
plunged back down, right towards the other Dewgong, who caught him. 

"Please--leave me alone!"

"Talking with our brother, what a sight!" said the other Dewgong, 
Happy.

Slink sat up in the water, mustering his last strength. "Please--no! 
Leave my friend alone!"

"Mechaaaaa!" cried Chirin as the Dewgongs tossed him around.
"Oh, I see you have a friend Pidgeotto!" said Slappy, sending 
Chirin's body spinning in the water with a slap of her fin.

"Getting birds to attack us, now that's a nono!" said Happy, 
squirting Chirin in the face with water.

Chirin had to get free somehow, but without using his electricity! 
But, really, that was all he had to use! *Ancestors preserve me!*
"You--you want to play, I, I know other gentler games we could play--
" He swerved to avoid a fin aimed at grabbing him, and sparked 
instinctively. From Slappy's face, she felt the sting. 

"Electric sheep is giving us lightning!"

"Still pink and fluffy, he's far from frightening!" said her brother.

"Chirin!" Selden bleated from the shore. "Oh, dear--Chirin!"
Then he realized. It hit him harder than a whole flock of slaps from 
the dewgong's tail. This was a test in and of itself! How could he 
forget--the ability that had just yawned awake today?

"I think this game's good and sound!" Slappy dunked Chirin again.

"Back and forth, pass him around!" said Happy, grabbing Chirin and 
throwing him over his head, to land in the water. Chirin began to 
concentrate his cotton making. Surely it would help to hide him from 
them and give him time to escape!

A shaft of icy air bit at his face as one of the Dewgongs aimed a 
mild beam at his head. Chirin dived under, barely resisting the urge 
to electrify the lake. He came up again in a different spot, but the 
dewgongs had easily seen him coming up. The water running off his 
skin froze in a clear coating round his face and ears. His eyeballs 
stinging, he opened his jaw and cracked off the casing.

His cotton-spore attack whirled out from around him in cumulus 
billows. 

Now! He swam through the spores, still trailing them out behind them, 
and giving off half of them below the water, where they moved more 
slowly but helped to hide him still. Whatever it did down there, it 
would help to obscure their vision down there too. 

He almost called out for Mecha as his strokes broke past the cotton, 
but he had to stay as quiet as he could. He made eye contact with 
Selden, smiling with open, gasping mouth as he strove for shore, back 
towards poor Slink. No wonder he feared his siblings so much!

"I can't see in all this fluff!" said Happy.

"That sheep made all this woolly stuff!" said Slappy.

"Slink! Slink!" both of them cried. "Come back here! Enough's enough!"
Mecha sighed in relief seeing Chirin heading back towards shore, safe 
and sound. Still, he flapped upwards up to soar above Chirin, just in 
case the two white things tried something like that again. And the 
white thing called Slink must be related...he looked somewhat like 
them, only smaller.

"You ok Chirin?"
Chirin waited until he was truly out on shore, to nod his 
head. "Yes," he said, dropping to his knees and hugging Selden, 
licking the mareep's face in reassurance and relief. Cotton bits 
floated thinly in the air around him, and stuck to his wet skin, 
which was tingly and numb, and a reddened in places where he'd been 
slapped too hard. It created a strange feeling that parts of him were 
bigger than they should be. He was just glad he'd gotten away from 
those dewgong before they'd "played" any more with him. "Watakko in a 
nido-hole. So much happening this day!"
Mecha nodded, landing nearby feeling relieved. Then chuckled "You 
said it Chirin." 

His tail blinked brightly, in a mix of relief and exhilaration that 
came from having just gotten a moment to breathe after a lot of 
things happening all at once. If that had been the ancestors who had 
called those dewgong here, to test his newborn cotton power, they had 
succeeded and he felt that he had passed that test, learning, thanks 
to them, a useful move that he could use to make a getaway in, 
without hurting anyone. Now he knew that he would always keep it in 
mind. He remembered the flock outrunning a marowak hunting party 
once, stirring up a cotton-spore storm in their wake. It had left the 
deadly ground-types with no way to aim their boneclubs.

Chirin looked over at Slink, but the dewgongs were not to be 
seen. "Were they your sister and brother?" said Chirin. 

Slink nodded and looked down, at the water's edge in front of 
him. "Now you see. Up until now...that sister and brother of mine 
were the reason I had no friends. They'll be coming back too...maybe 
not now, but later..."

"I'll protect you again," said Chirin. "Now I know how to."
Mecha pondered brothers and sisters for a moment...if THAT was what 
they were like, he was suddenly very glad he didn't have 
either. "I'll help protect you too!" he added "If that's alright with 
you Slink." With a nervous chuckle, he added "I didn't get to 
introduce myself to either of you yet..." He grinned briefly at the 
blue thing with the big teeth "I'm Mecha."

Looking at a few flecks of fluff caught on the wet bridge of his 
nose, Chirin realized that his face was all clean of the paint. He 
checked his belt to make sure that it was all still there, and it 
was, antler feather and all. Owing only to his having made it extra 
strong following the loss of the silver ram's lightball.

"Mecha..." He sighed and felt tears warm his lake-chilled 
cheeks. "It's been a long, long time since I saw you. I missed you so 
much. What have you been doing? And where are you going now, that our 
light-paths crossed again?"
Turning his attention back to Chirin, he nodded "I've missed you 
too..." Fluffing his feathers at the next questions, he remembered 
why he had landed in the first place "Well, you see...I've been 
trying to repay a debt to things called Unoun." 

Taking a deep breath, he continued "Awhile ago, before I met you 
even, some friends of mine and I went to the island that a Makimur 
called Muster spotted. We built a raft for Murster, Razkel, and 
another Rattata called Twirl ((and I feel horrible for forgetting who 
else @.@)) to be pulled along by a pretty purple Pidgey called Pyone 
and a really smart Hoothoot named Hortense (oh, and me too ^^;). 
Along the way, we met another pretty bird called Aurora, and Pyone 
and Hortense evolved (...and we were all changed into little Pokemon 
for awhile too. That was weird, but it was fun to be a Pidgey again)."

"Then, after getting through the cave, we got wishes granted by the 
unoun. But we also were told we'd have to pay them back for the 
wishes at some point. Everyone but Razkel and I went to help Murster 
pay his debt back. And then, they pretty recently told me to go west 
and find the son of the forest and tell him about a threat in the 
underground."

With a sweatdrop, he added "Of course...I have no idea WHO the son of 
the forest is..(I wondered if it was a tree for awhile, but that 
would probably be part of the forest, not the prince probably..), or 
if I'm going the right way...but a promise is a promise." The thought 
crossed his mind that...hmm....could _Chirin_ be the son of the 
forest...? The unoun hadn't been too specific...
As Mecha told his story, Chirin felt like roots were growing out the 
soles of his feet and pushing into the sand. As he told his story 
Chirin longd to burst out yes, yes, yes, me too... They were really 
truly soul connected friends. Mecha, too, had been called by the 
dead...the ancestors. Maybe they were not only his ancestors, but the 
ancestors of many other pokemon too, all come together to be a part 
of this lake, which they had made their home. Had the ram whose light 
he had lost not been doomed down there, but in fact blessed? Had it 
shaken itself off the belt on purpose? 

"Oh Mecha..." At last Chirin tore himself from his position and ran 
and hugged the bird. His metal feathers were sharp and stuff but they 
were a comfort that the softest cotton could not bring. They were of 
Mecha, his dear old friend.

Mecha smiled, resting a wing across Chirin's back like he had done when they 
had first met, and Chirin had been a small Mareep. 

"Mecha...I went to see the unouns too. I...I went there because I was 
called, I believe, by the dead. I started out when I was looking for 
Azalea. Azalea's my friend, you might remember her. I--care for her 
very very much and miss her so much. One morning I woke up and she 
was just gone. So I went looking for her, and I came back up here to 
the lake. Me and Selden both did." He smiled at Selden. "And then, 
one evening I swam out to the island, I didn't know what it was or 
that it was the being of the lake."

He whispered it, knowing they wanted their secrets to remain so. But 
he could tell about Goldie. In fact, he would have to begin telling 
someone soon if he was to fulfill his promise. 

"You saw them...?" Mecha nodded "I remember Azalea..she was the one attacked 
by the Arcanine that you saved."

He listened patiently from there, nodding now and then. 

"I found this little 
Ruriri living down inside the island, she has to stay there because 
there's a bad dark shadow-force--*burakos* it is--that would kill her 
if it found her, I...think. But she has no friends down there, only 
the spirits...and they are not the company she needs, even though 
they are the protection she needs." 

Mecha nodded again, sort of understanding how the little creature called 
Goldie must feel. Of course, it was different too...he doubted greatly that 
the unoun had a great sort of glass cylinder to keep her in. It wasn't a lab 
after all. Then again, if they had been trying to protect him from much, he 
doubted they did a very good job really...

But that wasn't the situation here, was it? 

He clutched the prickling antler on his belt. "The dead chose to give 
this sacred information to me. They have always dwelt in me, they 
live in everything--but only now have they spoken to me. For some 
days I was afraid. I thought they were a dark shadow out to possess 
me, and I tried to fight them. They almost killed me for all that I 
did, I'm still ashamed to think about it. I didn't understand, and 
fought the voices and the presence. I tried to drive them out of me 
when they were trying to enlighten me."

"It was only natural to try and drive them away.." the metallic Pidgeotto 
said soothingly "You didn't know at the time what they were...it must have 
been easy to mistake them for a dark shadow."  

"But, then after a time I came here and found Celesteon. Or Celesteon 
found me. He welcomed me anyway with love and light, and wiped the 
shadows out of my eyes. He helped me understand, and explained things 
to me. And I..." He wiped his crying face. "I owe him so much, he is 
blessed." He hugged Mecha tighter for a moment. "And so are we."

"He must be a great Pokemon.." Mecha grinned, hugging Chirin tight for a bit 
with his wings "And we must be."

A light buzzed inside his head as he remembered all that Mecha had 
said. "The son of the forest? A threat...underground?" 

The image he had seen in the pool of Azalea, lying in a cave at a 
Marowak's feet. "Oh, Mecha, underground..." He knew he probably 
shouldn't ask, what the dead had told Mecha was sacred too... "Did 
they tell you what that threat is? Who--it is?"

With a shake of his head, Mecha sighed "I have no idea who or what it 
is...but it must be bad."

He shook his head. "I'm sorry, I--my real task that I have to do is 
to find poor Goldie a friend who will stay with her down there, at 
least part of the time. They said that they will let her out into 
Phos's light to play more often now." He gazed out at the island and 
hoped that she was out there today, at least for a little time. One 
thing good about it was that she would have shelter from winter, at 
the very least.

"It's fine." Mecha grinned again "You have a duty to take care of." Son of 
the forest...he still wondered...

"But...I think Azalea's in great danger," he said. "Maybe from the 
big threat to the lake. I know that a great darkness took her away 
and is still holding her."

A frown followed "Then the sooner she's found, the better. I'm not sure what 
the darkness is, but..."
"That's okay," said Chirin, touching Mecha's wing, "I don't know if 
anyone really knows yet."

Slink had watched his new friend send his siblings packing, and felt 
oddly... happy... Slink could barely remember a last time he had been 
happy - beyond the ocean and the pretty-seel. He stared at Chirin 
in awe.

"I wish I could do that," he said, his voice soft, "send Slappy and 
Happy away, I mean. They don't listen to me, cos I'm weak and 
unevolved. They said I won't evolve until I learn to play pranks and 
have fun the way they do. But I don't wanna. If that's what it 
takes to evolve, I'd rather stay a Seel forever..."

He remembered something they had said, "this Goldie, is she all 
lonely-sad like I was until I made a Friend?"
Chirin looked at Slink, feeling a cooler breeze than he was used to, 
rush in down the beach and wave the trees behind him. It raised up 
gooseflesh on his back as he concentrated on warming backup in Phos's 
rays. He would not have a full coat of wool this winter.

He strode back over to Slink, and hugged him.

"Evolution doesn't happen because you're mean and play pranks on 
other people. It happens because your soul is ready to climb to 
another level of being." He felt emotion well up in him, as he 
remembered his own evolution. "My evolution came over me when I frew 
a form on the rock that gave me power to start my journey. My soul 
awoke to that call. My soul decided to take that journey because it 
saw light in it. It's my light-path. And your evolution will come to 
you when you're ready. And don't worry that it won't...And don't rush 
it, either. When you evolve, you can never go back."

"Right Slink!" Mecha's feathers ruffled a bit as he grinned again "I evolved 
because I had wanted to protect my friends..when your time comes, it'll 
happen!"

"Right," said Chirin. "And 
Goldie... is very lonely. She wants a friend more than anything, and 
yes, she would love to have someone as nice as you. But...I have to 
tell you. Goldie is living in a harsh place. She is underground, deep 
down in the spire and the island, where the air lies still and the 
spirits of the powerful dead guard her and teach her. Being with her 
would be hard, but yes, you would have a wonderful friend in her and 
you would be helping a very special person."
He welled up with tears and let out a single sob. "I'm sorry--I'm 
just remembering her now. I feel so bad that I had to leave her down 
there so sad."

Mecha hopped over to Chirin and rested his wing on him again "Don't 
worry...she won't be so sad when her friend comes. And it'll be because of 
you that she'll have them. So don't let yourself feel too bad. The sooner she 
gets a friend, the happier she'll be." He may have made an offer 
himself...but he still had to find the son of the forest
Chirin knew that Mecha was right. 

"She's out there now...out there..." He pointed out to the island. 
And just as he took casual note of someone, or a group of someones, 
headig out from the island on the edge of where he could see it, by 
apparently walking across the water or...floating while standing, 
across the water...(It did not surprise him, he took it as matter of 
fact. Like Lararu had always said anything was possible, and he had 
seen things far more amazing than marowaks who walked on water). Now, 
come to think of it, they were standing on something, but what it was 
worried him less than the fact that they appeared to be heading 
towards this side of the lakeshore. But, strangely, he felt rather 
safe, with Mecha and Celesteon and so many others nearby. Besides, 
Marowaks were hurt by water, and the current there was rough. It 
would likely sweep them southward, or at least he fervently hoped--
unless the magic they were using to get across made them impervious 
to the muscles of the lake.

But he had little time to wonder. He was swept over by Phos's light. 
No, not the light, a feeling of joy, pure joy at seeing and feeling 
Phos's rays. This was a spirit talking to him, one whose impression 
and aura he had sensed before.

*Mure?* 

Chirin received no answer. She was not as connected to him now, why, 
he couldn't know. It was barely strong enough for him to realize that 
this sudden feeling that he should never, ever take Phos for granted 
had come from someone, somewhere, else.
He watched silent and still, letting the water absently lick his 
hooves as the distant marowak-ridden thing sailed out on the 
sparkling blue. It made him think of the story of Denrai, casting the 
*burakos* human out to sail over the sea on a big piece of wood. 

Marowaks. Azalea. What if--

Just as he felt a weak electric zap from the lakewaters, Slink gave a 
moan of pain. Chirin's ears wiggled. "Are you okay Slink," he said, 
even though he knew the seel was okay, if a little stung. 

Again, he heard her singing in her beautiful bleating voice. Again he 
felt the small drop of joy she had snatched from the sky, turn to 
fear and a loathing. Mure was helpless, she had told him, an he 
realized he had just felt her *denki.* 

But from where? From deep down in the lake? Was she held there, her 
bones lying on the bottom beneath silt...or was she deeper still, far 
beneath the belly of Mother Megga, resting helpless in Bangaa's lair?

But no. She saw Phos now. She wsa back in the world of light but 
Chirin, looking, sniffing, listening all around in the bright high 
noon, could not find her.

He shone his light as bright as he could. If this feeling got any 
stronger, he would spark for her.
The little rattata scampered up to the flaaffy. He
grinned.
"I am Riddle! I made riddles! I have seen you as a
mareep! I see lots! I have seen someone you left! I
know some stuff about her! I followed her to here!
Solve my hints and riddles and you will see her again!

You knew her when she was young.
She had a problem with rage.
She had a rattata friend...before he became bad.
She is all white.
She is in a place you have just been.
She is talking with someone you know.

Name me someone who worships Dendeona and Dendeono the
nido god and goddess, who has a problem with rage, but
is sweet inside. Who is pearly white, and at one time,
almost lost an eye? Who is an orphen, no mother, no
father, no brother, no sister? Who did you leave at a
hill, and who is always chased by a quilava? String
these together, and tell me: Who is it?

Solve my riddle correctly, and I will tell you where
she is!" Riddle said, sitting down and looking up at Chirin.


Chirin had been with Slink, stroking his back and helping him calm 
down from the mild shock and making sure nothing tried to hurt him 
while he was resting up here. The marowaks went sailing past them, 
and Mure's touch on him had faded again. It seemed she rose and fell, 
rose and fell like breathing, inside him, breaking through only to 
sigh back and rest, or hide. He had to be patient; someday he would 
contact her again and really speak to her. He would learn who she was 
and how to help her be free. 

Listening to this chatty little rattata, it was plain he had followed 
Calima and him, but why? Had he only happened to see them together? 
And why was he trying to tell this to Chirin now? One more piece of 
strangeness surrounding the white nidoran, one more reason to steer 
clear of her. So she was at the lake too? Well, it had been her home

Chirin looked at the Rattata. He must be a friend of Calima's now--he 
was clearly connected with her. And he seemed to think that there was 
a possibility that Chirin did not know who he was talking about. What 
to do?

Chirin's tail light flickered in apparent questioning and 
puzzlement. "I--I don't know who it is," he said. "Phos's light to 
you. Winter's coming...There's good food around this lake." He 
struggled to find something to say. A teeny tiny part of him felt 
badly, but Calima no longer needed him. Their light-paths had long 
since diverged. They were of different kinds, and if that quilava was 
still following her...if she had a "problem with rage" it meant that 
darkness still hung in her. He remembered the storm, the burrow, her 
charging him with deadly intent. 

All his inside feelings said to do this. "Phos's light to you," he 
said agaim, and turned back to Mecha and Slink and Tod.
Riddle's ears lowered slightly.
"I was talking about Calima," he said, turning around
to leave. He stopped. "She misses you a lot, you know.
She is thin, bedraggled, and she was nearly killed by
a human. She has been searching for you. She is not
dark. And her searching for you nearl resulted in her
death. But you do not seem to care. If you change your
mind, you will find that she is with Celesteon." And
he scampered off.


"Wait," he said, then let his flipper fall. Chirin hadn't told the 
Rattata that he couldn't just leave here right now. Slink needed him, 
and he wanted to be with Mecha too now. 

But Riddle seemed to know anyway that he'd lied. All of a sudden, at 
hearing what the rat had just said...clouds seemed to block the light 
inside him. He hung his head in guilt.

If she was plagued by dark, who was he to turn her away? He hadn't 
turned Goldie away, and Goldie was in such a more serious plight. No, 
he had left Calima because he had been too weak to overcome her 
darkness. But now, he knew he was stronger. 

She had been searching all this time for him...But why had she not 
gone south? Had her injuries stopped her? Why was she thin? Was she 
also sick?

At the very least, he could go see Celesteon...he wanted to. But he 
could not leave Slink yet until the seel was well. He also had to 
know if Slink wanted to become Goldie's companion while she was 
within the spire. The dead would greatly honor him for sacrificing 
time under Phos's light to help Goldie in such a vital way.
Mecha patted Chirin with his resting wing, hoping to cheer him up.

Ebony looked after the Rattata "He looked rather tasty.."

Chirin winced, not wanting to think about anyone eating someone else 
or getting eaten. He knew his friends here had to, but he just didn't 
want to be where he had to see, or hear, it. He leaned against Mecha 
and gave him another loose hug, enjoying the comfort of having his 
friend close again. "That rattata must be Calima's close friend. He 
said she's hurt and sick...she might be dying. Why has she tried so 
long and hard to find me?" Somehow, it scared him.
"Maybe she wanted to say sorry for something or something?" Mecha said 
curiously "Or maybe she missed seeing you?"

"Whatever." Ebony looked longingly after the Rattata. Now she was hungry 
too...
And something was also telling him, or reminding him, from the inside 
deep down that old shadows since fallen asleep were waking to drift 
back around him. He couldn't shake the feeling that he and Calima 
shared a link of some kind. He didn't like it, it gave him icky wrong 
feelings. But even worse was the thought that by running away from 
her on that day he had done the wrong thing. But if he hadn't...where 
would he be now, and what would he be? Would he even be alive? No, he 
had run right when he had left her. But now might be the time to 
shake out the evil spirit possessing Calima.

After he found Goldie a friend, and got Azalea back...
"Maybe...but, oh Mecha, I feel so bad, that I lied...to try to get 
the rattata to leave. I was scared again...I'm still so afraid. 
Calima is strange, full of darkness..." What if she tried to kill him 
again? What would he do? "I only hope that this time I can help her 
get that darkness out. Deep down there is a light, I know it."
"There's light in everyone." Mecha said as if it were a solid fact, but almost reassuringly at the same time "I'm sure you'll find it in Calima too. Right Ebony?" Of course, the spot where she had been was now just a patch of flattened grass. 

He dropped to the sand and began drawing with the tip of his pink 
flipper. Creating a form of circles one inside each other, he then 
lay upon it on his stomach, and whispered chants to call on 
light. "Oh light of Phos, light at highest leap of day, send me 
strength into that piece of you that my ancestors passed on to me."

He closed his eyes and imagined up a light there. He tried hard to 
remember how Calima had been when she wasn't mad, enraged, or 
troubled. That was the part of her he would have to concentrate on. 

He got up and carefully brushed the sand off his belly. He stood in 
the circle's middle, keeping his feet gentle upon the drawn lines.
Mecha watched, wondering how Chirin had learned to do such things. They seemed fantastic to him...maybe Chirin would be able to teach him how at some point.. 
Chirin went back to Slink, realizing that in all this commotion with 
the Rattata there, he had begun to neglect a pokemon in need of a 
beacon of sorts. He stood by Slink in the edge of the water. His feet 
grew numb as he watched those marowaks sail on by. They were heading 
north. He felt the sudden and very foolish urge to follow them and 
see if they had Azalea. But it would only get him killed. 

If he did find Azalea, he realized he might need help getting her to 
safety, to a happy bright place where they could munch grass and roll 
in the warm sun. Would the dead help him to get her out if he needed 
it? He knew one thing--that he could not go assuming that they would 
protect him. That was arrogant and the spirits resented that very 
much.

But he could do some preparations before going, to call on their help.

At the thought of munching grass with Azalea, his stomach groaned 
hollow. He sidled over to some reeds, still green but turning color, 
and had himself a snack, shaking his feet off to try to get some 
feeling back in them, too. He selected the leaves that looked and 
smelled freshest, and enjoyed them.
~
By now Tod'd had wandered off without even realizing it (a bit of that
Farfetch'd nature in him taking over). He was walking through the
forest starting to heading north-west. By the time he realized he had
left his new friends, he hadn't gotten to turned around to know which
way back to them. He was also trying to remember why he had left to
begin with, but he figured he proabily had a good reason. So he
continued heading northwest. He hoped he'd find someone along the way.