<i>The group, after regathering themselves the morning after the battle on the cliff side set off once again. Though their goal remained the town of Utsumi, a tantalizing question drew them onto a detour. What had happened on the mountainside above? As they followed the cliff face, north, a rise became visible, that would lead them up toward where the battle had taken place. With the promise of discovery requiring only a short detour, they began their ascent... </i><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>Eleyna kept with the steady pace they had set over the last hour as their hiked up the incline back south toward the spot above where they had camped along the base of the cliff. Her ankle had had eased its strain as the had gone on, but every now and them she missed a step and felt a sharp reminder that she had been hurt. It was hard work never the less, and part of her had regretted their decision to scratch the itch of curiosity. She was sweaty and direly in need of a bath, though they all were at this point. It was the first thing she would do once they reached the town - find a tub and a  bar of soap.<br/><br/>As per Naomi's instruction, Eleyna had stopped fidgeting with her Pokedex. Naomi had given it a looking over and assured Eleyna that it could be fixed, but in the group's present state all they could do was carry on. Growlithe had kept to following them at a distance and seemed content to mind himself as he did, not paying the group any real mind as he sniffed about and occasionally disappeared for a few minutes.<br/><br/>The mountain path was surprisingly level and showed signs of travel - which the group surmised meant it served as a Pokemon trail into the peaks for hundreds of years. Even so, the incline made it work, and the already sweaty Eleyna felt drenched before long, and serious lamented the loss of her bra. But the work got easier as they grew closer to their goal, and that little tingle on the back of Eleyna's neck started in anticipation of finding something remarkable - as the island had a tendency to do.<br/><br/>Eleyna glanced behind at Growlithe, noticing him further behind them than usual. She paused, and called to the others,<span style="color: blue">Hang on a minute.</span>She watched the canine Pokemon as his ears pricked and he sniffed at the air intently, then sort of narrowed his eyes and cocked his head like he was mulling over some pieces of information. He came to a full stop and sat down on the trail, looking at the group.<br/><br/>Eleyna watched him, having accepted that she had no understanding of the Pokemon or its intentions.<span style="color: blue">I guess he doesn't want to keep going? Well whatever.</span>She shrugged and they continued on.<br/><br/>It was five more minutes before they found out why Growlithe had stopped. It was the smell first, burning, singed flesh. It came on a breeze along with a stagnant odor that made Eleyna recoil the moment it hit her.<span style="color: blue">God! What is that?!</span>She buried her nose in her shoulder, preferring the smell of sweat to it.<br/><br/>The answer was clear shortly after as they found the battlefield.<br/><br/>The rock face was blackened, clear chunks missing, the ground cracked and uneven. A long streak on the ground was black and glistened where an intense heat had melted the rock. Dead vines were strewn about, puddles of water that had gathered on the uneven and broken stone slowly evaporating in the late morning sun. Shards of rock that looked to be the remnants of an attack protruded from the earth, giving what remained a sinister feel.<br/><br/>But it was not the damage or its scale that made Eleyna wretch and turn away, clasping her mouth. It was the dead. Two dozen Pokemon lay dead, burnt, broken. And no field Pokemon caught in a cross fire. These were Pokemon of the highest caliber. Blastoise, Machamp, Alakhazam, Nidoking, Heracross, Tyranitar, Chesnaut, and too many others. A buzzing crackling sound could be heard, and at its source, an ATV, crushed, broken, and nearby six dead humans. On the ground lay a broken Pokedex, its screen flickering between static and a broken, dark image too distorted to make anything out from while its speakers sputtered. A distance away lay a Masterball, crushed inwards from all sides by no apparant force.<br/><br/>It was the trainers, six of the seven trainers that had left Saisho, that had fended off the attack. Like the Pokemon, burnt, broken. Eleyna stood in the scene, eyes wide and trembling in shock. She couldn't form a thought, not even ask herself what had happened. She simply stood, the images burning themselves into her mind. And then she saw a Charizard against the steep rise of the mountain, slumped over. A black mark covered its collapsed chest where it had taken a direct hit, one that would have been lethal. A scar ran the length of the right side of its face.<i> It was the same Charizard</i>. Eleyna stared at it.<i>The trainer in Saisho, the one in the hat with the badges, the boy in the red jacket. It was his Charizard. The one she had seen.</i>She stared utterly overwhelmed. Then her eyes drifted down and she saw a hand protruding from behind the large dragon Pokemon. She stumbled one small step after another toward it. Her mind knew who it was, knew even though she couldn't.<i>Blood</i>, she thought,<i>Blood red, like his hat his jacket, red blood. He always wore red after all. Red like fire red like -</i><br/><br/>The fingers moved, closing. Eleyna screamed and fell to the ground kicked backwards, she screamed, gasping.<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>