The Battle of Yin and Yang Disclaimer: I don't own pokemon. The Chinni are not Chinese, they are based off of the chinese, but they themselves are not Chinese. So, when I say Chinnise, I am not using bad spelling. Just a forewarning. This is my first Gary-centered fic. I do own Anya, the girl in this fic, though. Please read and review, it'll be muchly appreciated. ooo Gary was walking down a country trail, humming slightly to himself. He was heading to the mountains to do some training for the upcomming league and this trail was the quickest way to the mountains. Gary ran a hand through his brown, messy hair and closed his auburn eyes, enjoying the gentle mountain breeze. He had his backpack slung carelessly over his left shoulder. The bag was really light as he had only his pokeballs, some snacks, and water bottles as well as a map and a book about ancient cultures and a few other necesities inside. For some reason, Gary had became fascinated by anceint cultures, mostly Chinese in origin or style, during the Johto league. Gary was sure this was why he had lost the battle. It was his destiny to go out and explore ancient history, not fight pointlessly and non-stop. Still, Gary had to keep in top shape if he ever wanted to accomplish anything. Gary was seventeen and was a year away from becoming an adult. After that, Gary's years of free and careless travel would end. Although he could still travel, he would be charged at pokemon centers to spend nights and food would be full price. Young kids on journeys always received reduced cost food and free rooms at Pokemon Centers. Their ID was their pokedex, so no one could cheat the system. Though sometimes food places and Centers were careless with checking for age, Gary guessed that he wouldn't be one of those lucky ones who got overlooked. Perhaps Ash would because, despite the fact that he was almost sixteen, he still had retained his boyish looks. Gary smiled and shook his head thinking about his old rival. Although Gary never admitted it, Ash was stronger then him, not because Ash beat him in the Johto league, but because Gary had failed his pokemon trainer's licensing test twice. If you failed, you had to wait a year to retake the test. Gary had always told Ash that he was using those two extra years to study, but really, Gary just wasn't good at remembering facts and keeping them straight. Gary came to a fork in the road that he hadn't been expecting. Gary took the map out of his bag and couldn't find this fork. Perhaps it was a newer trail that hadn't yet been added to the map, after all, Gary's map was out dated. Gary put the map back and took out his compass, observing which direction it was pointing in. According to the compass, he should take the one on the left, but the one on the right was the newer path that wasn't marked on his map. Gary didn't have any particular destination, or any particular time span to do his training in, so he decided to take the right path and find out what was along it. After a few hours of travel, the sun was starting it's gradual descent behind the mountains. Gary had forgotten that on the mountains, night usually came faster because the sun had a tendancey to hide behind particularily large peaks. Gary cursed himself for his stupidity and began to quickly scout for a camping spot. Gary rummaged through his pack to see if he had a flashlight and cursed once more as he found that he had forgotten this essential as well. "I'm not doing so good," Gary sighed to himself while thinking this. Gary's eyes adjusted to the gradation from light to dark that had happaned so rapidly. Gary walked around aimlessly, unable to find any suitable spots, when his eyes caught a flicker of light on the ground. Blinking in the rising, near-full moon light that was starting to shine through the sparsely placed plam trees was a small, metallic object. Gary stooped down to pick it up and discovered that it was a little Arcanine-tiger-eske pendant. The eyes were red, possibly ruby, and the smooth metal felt quite cool in his hand. Gary slipped the leather strap around his neck. The Arcanine charm dangled right next to his green and yellow yin-yang necklace. Gary finally found a sizeable crack in the side of the mountain to camp out in. It wasn't big enough to be a cave, but it was enough to provide him with shelter. Gary took out a can of vienna sausages and ate that for dinner because he really didn't have the space to build a fire in his temporary shelter. After eating the sausages, Gary let his Umbreon out, who had been snoozing inside it's pokeball. Umbreon shook himself and breathed the night air in deeply. The air seemed to immediantly wake Umbreon up, who looked up at Gary inquiringly. "Can you keep watch tonight? I just found this new path in the woods. You remember what happened last time we were out somewhere newly discovered, right?" Umbreon nodded his head and stood up, eager for the watch. "Thanks, old friend." Umbreon 'bree'd' a good night and Gary folled out his sleeping bag and settled down for a good night's sleep. ooo When Gary awoke, it was early morning and Umbreon was cleaning a paw with his course toungue. Umbreon looked at Gary as he stretched and rubbed sleep from his eyes. Umbreon grinned and barked an affirmative at Gary to let him know that the night had been safe and uneventful. Gary thanked Umbreon once again and returned the pokemon to it's pokeball so that Umbreon could take a well deserved sleep. Gary rolled his sleeping bag up and slung his pack back on. Gary then began to set out once more, munching on trail mix as he walked, picking out the dried bannana slices, which he didn't care for, and tossing them over his shoulder. Gary judged that if he could pace himself and didn't stop for many breaks, he could make it to the peak before sunset. Gary breathed in deeply and sighed; he adored the scent of pine trees. Pine trees were growing indegenously all throughout the mountain side and seemed to flourish more then the averge pine tree. "The soil must be very fertile," Gary pondered to himself as he continued his climb. Sometime around noon, Gary stopped for lunch. He cooked a bag of instant rice and pulled out his pair of chopsticks. Gary then shoveled the rice down. When he was finished, Gary patted his stomach contently and released his blastoise. He had Blastoise put the fire out and then used some of blastoise's water gun to wash his bowl and chopsticks. Gary then dried them with a towel in his pack. After putting everything away, he returned Blastoise, thanking it for helping him out. Gary then began on his way once more. While walking along the trail, Gary tripped over something in the pathway. Gary got up and brushed himself off, then turned to look at what he had just tripped over and noticed that there was a girl in the path. "Oh my gosh! Miss, I'm so sorry, are you okay?" Gary knelt down next to the girl. She was wearing what had been a white skirt at one time, but was now covered with a fine film of dirt. She was wearing a blue spaghetti-strap shirt that clung closely to her slim figure. Brown cowboy boots adorned her feet and a pink bandanna covered her head except for a few blonde tendrills of hair which were messy and looked like they had not been washed in a few days. The girl looked up at him and waved his hand away. Gary noticed that her eyes were an eerie green color. "Shh," she put a finger to her lips, "I'm playing dead." Gary looked bewildered at the girl. "Why?" he asked because he could find nothing else to say in this peculiar situation. "Don't you know anything? Playing dead is the only way a lost dragon can come back." She shook her head as if annoyed by his ignorance. "Did you lose your pokemon?" "No, of course I didn't. I just know that there's a dragon lost out there. Want to know how?" the girl stood up and showed him a pendant she was wearing that had sapphire eyes and was carved from a metalic substance in the likelihood of a Dragonair-like dragon. "I found this a week ago on a low tree branch and I know it means that a dragon is lost. I had my dragonair go scouting, but then I remembered that the only way to have a lost dragon return is to play dead." she looked proud of herself. "I found a pendant like that too, only mine has an Arcanine with ruby eyes." Gary held up the pendant for her to see. The sunlight above caught the rubies in it's rays and made the pendant seem alive. "Hey, what's that other charm on your neck?" the girl asked, pointing to Gary's green and yellow yin-yang necklace. "Oh, a yin-yang necklace my father gave me for good luck when I first became a pokemon trainer." Gary held the glass pendant up for her to see. The pendant was smooth and it's weight was familiar to Gary's neck. Gary never took this pendant off because Gary knew that it was thanks to this pendant that he finally passed his pokemon trainer exams. "Hey, you know what's odd?" the girl didn't give him time to answer, "I'll tell you. The tiger and the dragon are the symbols of yin and yang. Did you know that?" Gary shook his head. He had never heard that before. "It's all coincidence because there is no such thing as fate or destiny, but you have a tiger pendant and I have a dragon and they are symbols of yinyang, which you have. I have a feeling that this could mean something, so I'm going to stick with you. The name's Anya." "Err, Anya, you can't just invite yourself along. That's sort of rude," Gary looked at the girl, who was twirling around. She had a southern belle accent and she wouldn't seem out of place in an old western town. "Sure I can. You're not going to leave a poor, defenseless girl to lay down on a path to find a lost dragon, are you?" she grinned with begging eyes. "Fine," Gary shook his head, defeated. The girl cheered and chatted non-stop about dragons and the knowledge she had about them. ooo Sunset had came and due to Anya's interuption, Gary had not made it to the summit. Gary groaned and sat on a log, managing to locate a good camp spot tonight. There was a fire roaring and their sleeping bags were next to it, though they were far enough so as not to catch fire. Anya stretched and stared hungrily at the fire where another pot of instant rice with nuts from the forest was cooking. "I just love rice!" she twirled around jovily and Gary shook his head while watching her. This girl was so unusual. Next to him, Arcanine was snoozing. Gary had used Arcanine to build and light the fire. Anya had released her Dragonair, which was the only pokemon she had, with the exception of a low level Rattata that she had nursed back to health while traveling through the woods. Dragonair flew about the camp site, doing backflips in the air and twittering gaily. Anya's dragonair was either a free spirit or a show off. "Dinner's ready," Gary called as he took the pot off of the fire. Anya rushed over with a look of starvation on her face. She stood closely to Gary and watched his every move as he removed two bowls from his pack (he always carried a spare) and two pairs of chopsticks. He then divided the rice and it's contents evenly between them and handed Anya her bowl. Anya took the bowl and shoveled down the rice an extremally surprising rate. Anya then let out a small belch and scratched her side. "Lovely food," she saluted him. Anya then walked over to their sleeping bags and plopped down on hers. Gary shook his head at Anya once again and ate his rice at a slower pace. When he finished, he used blastoise to wash the dishes just as before. Gary then released Umbreon to help keep a watch. Gary would've returned Arcanine, but Arcanine was sleeping so peacefully that Gary did not want to wake him. Gary got comfortable inside his sleeping bag and drifted to sleep, dreaming about the weird girl who was haunting his journey. ooo Gary was soon aroused by a deep growling from his Umbreon. Gary shot up and ran over to his Umbreon. Umbreon had it's back arched and it's furr was standing on end. "What's wrong?" Gary asked. Umbreon motioned with his head to two sets of glowing eyes: one red and one blue. Gary could hear heavy breathing coming from one of the sets of eyes. Gary pulled out a pokeball and his Arcanine jumped up from where he had been sleeping. Anya had also risen and was beside Gary with her Dragonair and Rattata. The eyes that the growling noise had been coming from began to approach the two, drawing nearer and nearer to them. "I choose you," Gary released his Blastoise, Nidoking, Dodrio, and Skarmory. The eyes stopped and the gorwling grew louder, then, before Gary could act, the ruby set of eyes released a flash of light. Arcanine whined in pain as the light obscured all vision. Then the red light turned blue and a squel was heard from Dragonair. The light then faded and as soon as Gary's eyes dialated so he could see once more, he noticed that their two pokemon were gone. All the others were still there, but not Arcanine or Dragonair. Gary began to immediantly search the area, but there was no sign of their two pokemon. "If we play dead, Dargonair will come back, but not Arcanine. You have to cut yourself with an emerald to return a lost tiger or tiger-like pokemon. The blood plus the emerald have similar scents. It drives them crazy." Anya suggested. Gary stared at her, but didn't ask questions. Suddenly his tiger-Arcanine pendant started emitting a humming noise. Gary looked over and noticed that Anya's dragon pendant was doing the same. Suddenly, an orb of corrosponding color burst from each of their pendants, cauising one of Gary's pendant's ruby eyes to fall out. Gary carefully picked up the ruby using the light from the orbs. The orbs joined together as one and then began to shoot off through the trees, though they paused and seemed to wait for Gary and Anya. "Return," Gary returned all his pokemon, except for Umbreon. Anya also returned her Rattata. The two looked at each other and nodded, taking off after the orbs. "They should lead us to the top," Anya stated matter-of-factly. "How do you know?" Gary inquired as the two ran. "How don't you know?" she asked bewildered. Gary shook his head and didn't ask. From his short time of knowing Anya, he learned that it was best to not ask of her motives because the answers were never helpful. The orb then turned a sharp corner and continued it's path up towards the mountain summit, as Anya had predicted. The summit was covered by a thin layer of snow, though the climate and weather up there wasn't too harsh and the temperture was cool, but not so cold that it was unbearable. By the time the two had reached the summit, the first plae streaks of twilight were marking the sky. The orb then stopped. It was hovering over a place of snow, though Gary couldn't see what was so special about this particular patch. "It's not what's on top, it's always when you look beyond the surface that you discover the truth about what you would otherwise think to be normal." Anya said simply as she kicked at the snow with her boot. Gary nodded his head. He understood what she was getting at. "Umbreon, use hidden power to rid this area of snow," Gary ordered. Umbreon nodded and it's eyes began to glow as eight orbs of light surrounded his body. Umbreon releared the orbs, which grazed and melted the snow. Under the snow where the orb had stopped was a giant, stone, yinyang pedastool that rose only about an inch above the ground. There were two indentions, one in each opposing color circle in yin and yang, though the stone pedastool did not specify colors. "I'm guessing we put the necklaces here," Gary took his necklace off and fitted the ruby eye back where it had fallen out. "If all else fails, go with the obvious." Anya grinned. She took her pendant off too and deposited it into one of the indentions. Gary did the same with the other. The pedastool glowed faintly and a light from the center joined the orb that was still floating above the board. Once the orbs had joined together, snow raced over and immediantly covered the pedastool once more. "Now what?" Gary asked, though redundantly because at that moment, the orb shot away once more and the two took off after it once more. The orb lead them to a small shrine where there were berries placed as an offering. The orb entered the shrine and the shrine began to glow slightly, then a Noctowl emerged from the pine tree and landed on the shrine, staring at the two with large eyes. "So, you would be the two who were stupid enough to meddle in matters best left alone, ehh?" the owl pokemon cocked it's head at the two and chuckled at their apparent perplexed expressions. "I'm the tale keeper. It's a boring job, but it's kept me living all these years, so I don't complain...much. I was given the gift of gab by an old preist who I have survived. I miss the old man sometimes, not ofton, but sometimes. Basically, you guys are in a heap of trouble, but never fear because I am here to help. Whether I like it or not." Noctowl spread it's wings wide and flew over their heads, then around them as if examining them. When it was done with it's inspection, the owl pokemon closed it's eyes and took a deep breath. "Exactly what did we do?" Gary asked. "You picked up the pendants. Darn earth movers came through not so long ago and cleared out a path, unfortunately the disturbed the pendants' resting place. The chinni people loved to build low pedastools for their ancient artifacts, which isn't a very smart thing at all. The pedastools are gifted with a magic to cover them selves in times of danger with pine needles or snow or whatever natural element is around for covering. Though that won't stop an earth mover. The pendants were knocked off a pedastool in the woods and then you two found them. If you had left them, things would be fine, but by picking them up and in turn wearing them, you have disturbed the balance of things. Shows you just how we got the saying curiosity killed the cat." Noctowl yawned and closed his eyes. "If only we had an emerald, we could set things right, but where can you find an emerald out here?" Anya sighed and crossed her arms over her chest, shaking her head. Noctowl looked at Anya incredilously. "Are you okay? How can emerald cure this? What you need to do is hurry back up to the summit at night. They won't come out during the day because both tigers and dragons hunt better at night, or at least pokemon versions of them do at any rate. So until then, let's get some grub." Gary sighed and brought out three cans of vienna sausages since he didn't have Arcanine to light a fire. ooo Once their bellies were full, Gary realized they had a full day before they headed back up to the summit. The shrine that the orb had taken them to was right at the summit, but in a non-snow covered and wooded area. What they were going to do, Gary had little idea of. Gary had learned patience from his two years of failing the pokemon exams, but that had been on his own. Now with two companions, one eccentric and one sarcastic, Gary found his patience growing thin. "Did you know that the only way to make a lost dragon return is to play dead? Also, the only way to make a lost tiger return is to cut yourself with an emerald." Anya was sitting on a stump, swinging her feet as she spoke. "You seriously are crazy. I've never heard any such nonsense in all my years of living, which far out number yours a hundred times over." Noctowl shuffled his wings. Noctowl was still perched on the shrine and Anya was trying to explain to him her theories. "Is there anything to do other then discuss the many ridiculous ways to do things?" Gary asked in an annoyed tone. Gary was leaning against a tree with his arms folded across his chest. "Well, not really. I suppose you could try and find the place where the dragon and tiger rest, but I don't reccomend it. It's a task that will most surely get you killed." Noctowl ruffled his feathers and closed his eyes. "We could have a pokemon battle," Anya suggested. "You only have a rattata with you, though," Gary told her. "Oh yeah," Anya paused to think with a finger to her chin. "I got it! I can teach you how to square dance!" Anya jumped up and down and clapped her hands at her idea. "No, I don't square dance," Gary said firmly. "Aww," Anya's head drooped and she looked really sad. "What about ballroom dancing?" Gary suggested. Anya perked up at that. "You'll have to teach me because I really don't know much about it." Anya admitted with a blush. Gary nodded and took her hands in his. Gary really wasn't partial to the idea of dancing, especially with the dirt-covered Anya, but it was better then hearing her talk. Gary lead her through differant steps; as many as he could without bringing her any closer. As a member of the Oak family, Gary's father had made sure he knew how to ballroom dance. Ballroom dancing was a tradition in his family where family reunions were elgant, extravagent affairs. Gary remembered his distaste when he first learned that he would have to learn how to dance, but after a few years, Gary grew to love ballroom dancing, though he never told anyone. Gary then began to wonder what had made him tell Anya when eh wouldn't even admit this fact to Ash. He supposed it was the thought of square dancing, but he knew that wasn't it because square dancing didn't bother him. Oh well, he would think more on that later. Somewhere during his thoughts of dancing, he had moved Anya closer to him so that their bodies were together and they were just swaying. Anya seemed to think that this was normal, but Gary quickly felt his cheeks grow red, but he didn't stop just yet. Despite her dirty apearances, Gary noticed that Anya smelled faintly of french vanilla, a scent that Gary enjoyed. French vanilla always brought back memories of summer days at the beach, enjoying an icecream cone. Gary finally pulled Anya away from him and showed her some moves. Anya seemed to be having the time of her life, even though she wasn't very succesful. She just seemed to enjoy the moment and for the first time since Gary had met Anya, he smiled because he was enjoying her behavior. Anya's laugh was musical, probably because of her accent. Her skirt also flared out when she spun around. They stopped dancing sometime around 2:00 for lunch and a break. Noctowl was asleep and Gary really didn't care to wake him. Gary pulled out two water bottles and a bag of beef jerky for them. Gary had mostly brought non-perishable food items with him so they would not spoil on his long journey. "Hey, can you keep my ballroom dancing skills a secret? I find it kind of embaressing that I know how to dance and even more emabaressing that I enjoy it." "Sure, but I know this for a fact, if you enjoy doing something, then why should you care what others think? The only people who deserve to be your friends are the ones who know and accept what you do, even if they don't personally like it. I may not know how to ballroom dance, but I had such a fun time because I enjoy dancing. Well, I enjoy anything that involves moving my body, which is why I started a pokemon journey in the first place because I wanted to travel. I enjoy walking, hiking, any form of exercise." Anya drained her water bottle and began to chew thoughtfully on a stick of beef jerky. "Hey, I was just wondering, how did you learn that thing about returning lost dragons and tigers?" Gary asked. Anya put her hands in her lap and for the first time since Gary met her, she looked sad. Gary immediantly felt horrible for making such a free spirit sad. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings." "Oh no, you didn't. I'm just glad someone asked before automatically assuming I was insane, like the owl over there." Gary hid a small blush that crept up on his cheeks. He had thought that exact same thing. "My grandma told me. It was the last thing she told me before she died. My grandma was really close to me and was pretty much the only family I had left since my father walked out on me. She gave me her Dratini, which she had never managed to find time to train, and afterwards I set out on a journey because I didn't have anywhere else to go." Anya fiddled with her half-eaten jerky stick and then smiled. "She wnated me to spread it around, and I have been. I think I've done a great job and I know she'd be proud of me. I also don't like being sad. My grandma said that frowns cause wrinkles and I surely don't want wrinkles." Anya ate the rest of the jerky stick. Anya's smile was infectious and Gary soon found himself smiling as well. ooo After lunch, the two decided that it would be a good idea to get sleep since it sounded like they were in for a long night. Plus they had recieved little sleep the previous night. Unfortunately, they had left their sleeping bags in the clearing. In their mad rush to find their pokemon and follow the orb, they had not thought to retrieve them. Gary had a light, fleece blanket in his pack, which he spread out on the ground for the two to lay on. The sheet was big enough so that each of them had their own space. Gary laid back, using his arms as a pillow, and let his thoughts swim freely. He was extremally aware of Anya at his side and she was also invading his thoughts, though it was mostly of the two cryptic phrases she offered. Her grandmother believed them to be true, but they were so nonsensical. Could they be true? Gary shook his head and closed his eyes, letting sleep carry him away to a feild and dancing with Anya. Gary woke up to Anya gently shaking his shoulder. Gary opened his eyes and noticed that the sun was almost finished setting and the sky had gradated to a deep purple. "About time you woke up. Lazy kids, why back in my day..." Noctowl began a long narritive about how youth were so much better in the early centries of his life. Gary shook his head and blocked the sound out as Anya helped him fold the sheet, after shaking the pine needles off of it. Gary placed it in his pack and pulled out a box of crackers, which would suffice for dinner. Once finished eating, Noctowl lead them to the summit. "Careful, these ancient creatures will posses your pokemon. It's a rare occasion when the two pokemon that form Yin and yang are together. They will use your pokemon to continue their age old battle, which has never ended and will, unfortunatly, never end." Noctowl explained as he flew ahead. "Exactly how did you come to be gifted with eternal life?" Gary asked. Though he wasn't fond of the owl pokemon, he was curious. "Ahh, a grand tale, but I'll give you the cliff notes version. Basically, I was the only nocturnal pokemon present when the yinyang fights became a problem, so the high preist granted me with speech and the wisdom to tell the tale of yin and yang, which I don't feel like going into at the moment. I was also granted a long life. I will not perish until the night when the battle between yin and yang is over. It's not eternal life, however if these two don't stop fighting, it may end up that way." Noctowl sighed. "I'm very old and I feel all the aches of such an age that I have obtained. Eterna; life isn't all that it's cracked up to be. Sometimes I long for this fight to be over so I can finally rest." A lightbulb seemed to go off in Noctowls head. "Ever heard of give and take? You rub my back and I'll rub yours, though that would be difficult with wings and talons." "What's the rub?" Gary asked, suspicously. "I'll help you get your pokemon back, fine and dandy, no harm done. In return, you will help me to end this wretched battle so I can finally be at peace. What do you say?" "Not like we have much of a choice," Gary mumbled. "The only way to appease an old owl is to give in to his demands, even if it means certain death." Anya sighed. "I see this one is wiser then I first thought. So, do we have a deal?" "Sure," Gary shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans as the three reached the summit and the grand display of power that was soon to be layed before them. A red mist had gathered at one end of the stretch of land, about a mile in length. A blue mist gathered at the other. The mists both began to shift and take the form of the ancient dragon and tiger, then the shapes decreased in size until they became Gary's Arcanine and Anya's Dragonair. The two were still bigger then normal, and their eyes glowed ruby and sapphire, respectively, because of the control of the ancient ones. "Careful that you stay away from the center of the battlefeild. You wouldn't want to get caught in the crossfire, now would you?" Noctowl scolded, making sure the two stayed back. Gary nodded, as did Anya, and the two watched the ensuing battle. Arcanine eclipsed his being in flames and charged forward. Dragonair used agility to dodge the attack and fly up into the sky. Arcanine looked above him at the Dragonair with a growl and used extremespeed to leap up as high as he could. Arcanine tackled the dragon to the ground and grinned at the dazed expression that came over Dragonair. Dragonair shook the attack off and hit Arcanine hard with it's horn, which Arcanine had not been expecting, and sent Arcanine flying. Arcanine flipped in the air so that he landed on his paws, though he did skid a few feet from the force of the blow when he landed. Arcanine glared with narrowed, red eyes at his foe before lunging once again, spitting embers at his opponent. Dragonair changed the weather to suit it's feelings and a hail storm began. "I think it's time to head for cover," Noctowl remarked. He led the two to an area of snow and used whirlwind to blow the snow away from the area to reveal another close-to-the-ground pedastool. "Quickly, jump on!" The three hopped onto the pedastool and it lowered into the ground. The pedastool traveled downward, and then stopped at a small opening. Gary, Anya, and Noctowl stepped off the pedastool, which began to rise back up to the surface. The three stepped through the crack (well, Noctowl flew) and into a room that seemed to glow. "Oh wow, irredescet lichen! I never knew that it was real before!" Anya ran over and inspected a strange plant-like growth that covered the walls. The greenish glowing was coming from them. "How do you know about irredescent lichen? Only what used to be the Chinni people knew of it's exsistence because they created it." Noctowl eyed Anya with interest. "It seems you have more wisdom then what I credited you with." "Just something I read in one of my grandma's books." Anya blushed and put a hand behind her head with a smile. Gary was busy looking at incising upon the furthest back wall. Gary had never seen markings quite like them, except for one. He recognized it to mean fire. "Noctowl, what do these engravings mean?" he asked, pointing at the wall. "Oh, that's Chinnise. It's basically saying that the place we are in is used as a refuge from yinyang battle outbreaks. It's describing the story of the battle and history and such. If it only it told of a way to scease the fighting, then perhaps it would be of some use. The Chinni people were cowards. I'm not being harsh because the Chinnise admitted this theirselves. It's why they built this: an underground system of tunnels lit by irredescent lichen. They had good reason though. The constant fighting scared them, so they hid. With the exception of the low pedastools, all of their artifacts and buildings and such were destroyed by the battles of yin and yang. It's why the preist finally gifted me with speech; because he knew that their fightings would never cease and he wanted a way to warn future generations." "Are there any answers here at all?" Gary looked dejected while Anya ran around the room inspecting the variety of the glowing lichen. "Well, we could go check where the preist's study is located. I doubt there would be any answers, but perhaps we can find some useful information there." Noctowl then motioned for them to follow him to the preist's study. ooo Once in the study, the three found the room to be completely empty except for a chair in the corner. "Hmm, if I know the preist, which I really don't, but that's beside the point, then he should have some low pedastools that I can activate. Hey, I don't know if you knew this, but the purpose of those necklaces of yours is to not only keep those murderous beast concealed, but also to locate me if they are ever removed so they can be put back. Though, it kind of defeats the point when you have anceint monsters running amock to just simply place them back, but that's the Chinni for you." Noctowl was mostly talking to himself as his eyes glowed. "Foresight is a wodnerful ability to have when dealing with the Chinnise low pedastools. Aha, there's one." Apparently foresight allowed him to be able to see through the dirt that covered the floor of the room. Noctowl used whirlwind to uncover two low pedastools. He flew over to each and tapped them with his talon to activate them. The pedastools rose from the ground and revealed shelves of books all dedicated to the Chinni knowledge of the era. "They may be outdated," Noctowl began, "but they're all we've got." The three then began to take books down and flip through them for answers. Three hours later and they still hadn't had much luck. "Did you know that spinach, when combined with egg yolks, can create a medicine to eradicate stomach aches?" Anya read from one of the books she was flipping through. "Probably because the mixture makes them throw up," Gary commented flatly as he threw another book aside that contained no information on the battle raging above them. "Okay, I'm tired of looking up information on this stupid battle. None of these books are any help." Gary threw his hands up in frustration and walked over to his pack to get a bottle of water. While getting the water, Gary spotted his book on ancient civilizations. Gary picked up the book with interest as took a sip of water. Gary walked back over to the place he had been sitting this whole time (on the floor since Noctowl had taken over the chair) and began to flip through the book. "Wow, it seems that toenails can be used to cure stomach aches too. In fact, this whole book is nothing but things that, once consumed, cause one to throw up." Anya grimmaced and threw the book in the pile behind her. She then leaned back and used the pile as a pillow. "I'm done searching. I've learned a lot, and that's good, but nothing that I will ever need, especially for this situation." Anya sighed as she looked up at the ceiling a sif she could see the battle above through it. "Perhaps the preist never recorded anything for this battle and I've just sent you on a wild goose chase." Noctowl closed his eyes and tried to think. Gary closed his book in frustration. The book did not have one single bit of information on the Chinni people, which Gary voiced his complaints about. Anya put a finger to mer chin and said "That's not surprising. The Chinni people didn't leave any records, as Noctowl said, however they aren't that hard to figure out. Like all ancient people, they used spiritual aspects of life to seem advanced, though they were primative. We see this in many cultures of ancient times. The only true advanced ancient civilization was Pokeantis." Anya then stood up and held out her hand to Gary, who eyed it warily. "You pendant," she commanded. "Why?" Gary asked as he took it off and held it in his hand. "Look!" Anya pointed to the ceiling where a small, circle indent was visible. "And look at the book shelves! They're like stair steps, each pedastool raises a little bit more and the last one is directly under that circle!" Anya looked excited. "You know what, you're a genius!" Gary ran over to the bookshelves and began to climb up them. "I never would have thought about that," Noctowl looked at Anya with far more respect then he had been showing her. "How do you know my pendant will work?" Gary asked, looking down at her from the topmost bookcase. "I don't, but your pendant is of a yinyang and it's all that we've got." Anya called up to him, though he could hear her fine if she talked normally. "Worth a shot," Gary shrugged and reached up, placing his pendant in the slot. There was a rumbling sound, then muffled roars were heard from somewhere above them. Gary's pendant then fell out ot the slot, causing the yellow side to shatter completely off. The break was very clean, almost as if someone had intentionally cut it. The Green side, though, had a point that was sharp to the touch. Gary pocketed the yellow peice, planning to fix the necklace when he made it out of the mountains, and put the pendant back on his neck. "I'm not sure what that did, but let's go check it out." Noctowl led the threesome out of the room as soon as Gary had climbed back down the bookcases. When they left, the bookcases lowered themselves back into the floor. Dirt then rushed to recover the low pedastools so they could not be located by the naked eye. ooo Noctowl led them to a low pedastool covered by dirt right next to where they had entered. Noctowl uncovered the pedastool and the three hopped on. The pedastool rose and took the three to the surface. A low pedastool slid aside, revealing the frigid night air and the pedastool the three were on stopped where the other hads been. The three hopped off and the pedastool they had ridden on lowered itself back into the ground. Then the other pedastool slid back into place and then covered itself with snow so it could not be located. Gary looked around and noticed that a large, transparent-green barrier had formed around the summit. Gary assumed that this was to keep the dragon pokemon and the tiger-like pokemon contained. Gary also noticed that two pokemon seemed to both be considerably weakened, though whether from the battle or the preist's gadget, Gary was unsure. "Look at this," Anya walked towards the center of the feild, "it's an uncovered low pedastool." As Anya was walking, Arcanine and Dragonair both stared with rage at one another and prepaired for one final blast. Dragonair began to form a blue orb of energy at it's neck orb and Arcanine began to form a red orb of energy at it's mouth. Gary soon realized that ANya was walking straight towards the blast collision zone. "Anya, don't!" he shouted, though far too late. "What?" she turned to ask, however the blasts came out her and she was lost from view in the collision and smoke caused by the collision. "Anya!" Gary shouted. Beside him, Noctowl used whirlwind to blow the smoke away. Anya was on top of the pedastool with her clothes tattered and even dirtier then before. She was facedown and she was not moving. Gary ran over to her and knelt down beside her, nudging her, however she did not respond. Gary felt tears come to his eyes and he let them fall freely. He could not believe that the embodiments of yin and yang would murder such a free spirit. Gary stood up in his rage and went to walk off to do something heroic, however he tripped over Anya. "Ouch, watch where you're going," she whispered. "What the...Anya! You're still alive?" Gary knelt down and felt releif watch over him. "Shh, keep your voice down," she was still facedown and showed no signs of movement, "those two don't know that. I'm playing dead to return a lost dragon. I suggest you..." "Cut myself with an emerald. Where do I find an emerl..." Gary stopped as he looked down at his broken yinyang pendant. This wasn't the first time he had broken it, but this was the only time he was glad that he did. Gary took the sharp point and sliced his wrist. "Now die." Anya commanded. "Err... okay." Gary fell down right next to Anya. "I hope this works." "Shh, dead people don't talk." after that, the two were silent. Arcanine began to whimper and the tiger that wa sholding him hostage left him to glide over and look at the two "dead" bodies. The dragon spirit did the same, leaving Dragonair to soundlessly cry. The two spirirts hovered over the result of their fighting and bowed their heads in humble respect. "Well, I'll be. They settled their differances." Noctowl looked over at the two laying on the pedastool and shook his head. "Maybe if they didn't breathe so much, one could mistake those two as dead." The two entities began to fade into mist. Noctowl flew close and used foresight to vanquish the mistic remains of yin and yang. "Finally, it's over. Though I don't understand why your deaths would stop such raging creatures." "Oh, that's easy." a now un-dead Anya rose to a sitting position, hugging her knees close to her body for warmth. "The whole time both of them fought, they never killed anyone. The battle was personnal between the two of them, however to see two completely innocent people killed because of their fighting opened thier eyes to the pointlessness of what they were doing so that they were able to be destroyed." "How did your grandma know to use the emerald and to play dead?" Gary asked, taking the blanket from his pack and draping it over Anya's shoulders so she wouldn't be cold. "She knew lots of thinsg about this battle and told me what to do. Strange now that I think about it." Anya put a finger to her chin to help her think. "Of course. Your grandma is a Chinnise descendant. She must have been the only one left." Noctowl then closed his eyes and began to fade. "Time for me to say goodbye now, about time too. You guys were really starting to annoy me." with a wink, Noctowl drifted off to the place of everlasting slumber. ooo Anya and Gary spent one more night in the mountains to recoperate themselves and their pokemon. Arcanine and Dragonair were as good as new after chowing down on pokechow. The last of Gary's food and drink were almost gone because he hadn't planned on his supplies feeding more than himself, so he had to set out for the next town very soon. Anya and Gary stood at the fork in the road where Gary had first came to the mountains. He knew on the opposite side, the side he had planned to go on the first time he came to the fork. He and Anya looked at each other, not speaking and not wanting to say goodbye. Finally Gary smiled and said, "It gets lonely on the trail up ahead, would you like to accompany me?" "Do Pidgeots reach speeds of up to mach two?" Gary looked at her with a bewildered expression on his face. "It means yes." Gary smiled and took Anya's hand in his and the two continued down the path together. Whether it was just as really good friends or something so much more is for you to decide. Draw your own conclusions. ooo The End ooo AN: So, what did you think? Reviews appreciated. Big thanks to Even numbers (Misty101803) for showing enthusiam at this idea. I think I'm always thanking him for something in my fics ^^; BTW Anya is named after our permanent Spanish Class substitute.