The Guardian of Flames
From Create Your Own Story
You travel inland to the volcano. Along the way, you hit a dirt road that’s used by humans and their Pokemon companions (you’re not sure if all humans who come to this island are trainers). You decide to follow it. You don’t run into anyone else; who else would be heading up towards the mountain in late afternoon?
Conveniently, the path brings you straight to the base of the volcano. It then slopes, wrapping around the mountain in a smooth ascent. You abandon the road and climb up your way; hopping up from rocky ledge to rocky ledge. It takes some time and effort, but soon you’re standing at the rim, looking down into boiling lava.
You roar.
Behind and below you, great winds cause the trees to billow about. Some errant leaves are blown in the gusts. From inside the volcano, you hear an answering bellow.
You look down into the crater and spy a cave above the lava-level. There’s a stepping-stone path of solid bedrock jutting out of the inner wall leading between the cave and the fringe.
You run forward, taking the path down and into the volcano. Such close exposure to the magma is uncomfortable, but you know if any other living creature tried, they’d be burned and unable to go anywhere near the cave.
The cave is actually a tunnel, which leads you downwards. Eventually, the tunnel widens into a bigger cavern and there in the center, waiting expectantly for you, is the Champion of Volcanoes himself.
He rumbles a greeting.
“Hello, Entei.” You say as you approach.
“Welcome to Cinnabar Island, Suicune.”
“Oh? Is that where I am?” A nod.
“What brings you here?” Entei asks.
You explain about the empty lake (he doesn’t seem particularly interested about that), and then describe the metal thing. When you explain how you lost it, he shakes his head.
“Very sloppy. You need to buff-up.”
You look away, sheepishly, then ask, “Do you have any idea what it was?”
“No; nothing is coming to mind at your description.”
“I see…”
The two of you chat for a little while, but are at a loss as to your next step. Entei notes that the sun is going, so the two of you decide to part ways and hope for the best. You nod in farewell and leave.
Once outside, you look up and admire the sunset, then find a place to settle down for a night.
Normally, legendaries are gender-less but for simplicity’s sake, while narrating, I shall call Entei a ‘he’ because I don’t want to call them an ‘it.’ Perhaps from a human’s perspective, I would call all recently-met Pokemon an ‘it’ because your average human probably couldn’t tell from just a glance. (Unless the writer acknowledges notable gender differences, but then a human would have to know about that and be able to look for it.) I’m of the mind that Suicune (and probably all Pokemon) would be able to tell a Pokemon’s gender upon meeting them.
