Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Broken Ideals

Chapter 87: Storm The Castle

Chapter 87

Storm The Castle

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When dawn had struck after the last meeting to be held in the former Aurora Town Fellowship's base, everyone congregated before the great network of trees and waited patiently for orders. Not long after Yimtri's few hundred members, Crystelle, and Terron's group had assembled, Len and Yimtri appeared on the scene. Once they had quickly glanced over the crowd and verified that all of the supplies nessecary for the journey were gathered, Yimtri then gave Len the word to lead them to Pledge Mountain. And so, with the Luxray at the head of the large assemblage and Yimtri not far behind, everyone traversed east-ward to the fated cluster of mountains where their destiny lay.

It was a difficult journey. With the impending arrival of winter in but a few more weeks, the cold was already beginning to settle itself upon the land. There were a few places that were untouched by the cold, such as a few forests and deserts, but the rest of the land was not spared the cold's unrelenting grasp. Fields that were normally blooming with flowers and life were now covered in thin layers of frost, encapsulating the plants so that they were frozen in a time from days ago. Other areas were harsher with blizzards stirring up a frigid tempest so that there was not a speck of color to be seen amongst the heavy blanket of cold white. Some lakes were even beginning to have ice form along their surfaces, occasionally allowing the group to tread across the frozen surface and use it as a shortcut.

Sometimes the group saw wild Pokémon prowling about, watching them from the shadows so that they might strike when their guard was lowered. Sometimes they were alone, sometimes they were in large packs that seemed to be made of at least thirty Pokémon. They were all quite fearsome with the way their eyes glowed amongst the snow's white and with how their forms were surrounded by white wisps from their hot breaths. However, whenever one of the wild ones did attempt to strike, it would die long before it could harm anyone, and be used for meat for whatever meal was soon to be upon them.

It was also not uncommon for civil Pokémon to attack the crowd as well. Whether they were bandits desperate for supplies or Fellowship members that had been in the area and recognized that they were all fugitives, they had been attacked various times. However, they were only met with the same fate as the ferals of the land. It took longer for them to die, and some members were hurt from these sudden attacks, but all of these intruders were killed eventually and no one from the group ever perished due to injuries. There were even cases where some of the assailants would show themselves willingly before the group and explain that they wanted to join the fight against the Fellowship. Some would say this because they were far too cowardly to die, others would say this because they could no longer trust the Fellowship thanks to Len's sudden disappearance and the shady explanation the three leaders of Pledge Mountain gave to dismiss it.

Whatever the reason was, Yimtri would actually allow some of them to join the group while he would kill the others. No one knew exactly how he was able to deem who lived and who perished, but even more worrying, many thought that Yimtri was allowing enemies to be amongst them. They worried that as soon as their guards were down, they would attack and sabotage the group. However, Yimtri was steadfast in his decisions, calmly assuring that they would not die and that he knew the new recruits would not betray them. He had spent enough years to know when Pokémon were truly speaking from their hearts and sharing an earnest willingness to create a commitment. And though the doubt was never completely alleviated from everyone, no one spoke of it again after Yimtri had given his explanation.

Everyone only continued traveling onward until finally, several days later, the fated day had come.

It was the middle of the day when Len finally brought the group to a cliff that overlooked Pledge Mountain. Even from the distance, the mountain stood above them all like a behemoth, resembling more a giant tower than a mountain with how thin yet immoveable it was before them. It cast its dark and great shadow over the land as it stood amongst other mountains that could not rival its size. They only stood by in the distance, circling about Pledge Mountain, attempting to pierce the cloud-filled skies with their jagged summits, but only able to reach half its size.