PokèDruids [PkmnWattys2016]

False Idol

There's exactly 3500 words!

Xerxes spent only a few hours walking to the supposed city where the Zoroark awaited. She couldn't help but trust the Honchkrow from before, despite the ominous aura and displeasure it exuded; And, as a result, she was making this tiresome journey to help her little Dusk.

It was a bit odd walking towards the so-called city, as there seemed to be some kind of activity or such that caused the local Pokemon to become ever so xenophobic as to shrink at the sight of Xerxes, covering the eyes of their children to protect them from the malevolence outside the world that was their own. Xerxes briefly considered that everybody was reading her mind, able to see that she intended to kill their so-called God right before them, but then she also considered the fact that she was quivering at the very thought of this, a behavior much abstract to an ice type like herself. She simply ignored the onlookers and carried on, finding signs of worn passages and commonly traveled routs that would surely signal the approaching of her destination.

Sure enough, she heard a rhythmic beating somewhere not too far off, one that she thought sounded in the slightest like a kind of ritual or dance. The air was a bit bitter for the other Pokemon, the frost from the ground and air nipping away at the warmth from their skins. As she calmed herself down and made it farther into the forest, the Pokemon around her stopped giving her glances of disgust; In fact, nearly nobody payed her any attention. Most of the folks were perched up high in the trees for some reason unknown to Xerxes, making her feel even more uncomfortable as everybody stopped looking down upon her.

Soon, the sound of beating became clearer and louder, taking the form of drumming and pounding of many tiny feet. This worried Xerxes, as there was still the slightest bit of snow out and she always overheard others speaking of how it's bad to stay out in the cold too long... She decided that this dancing was done unnaturally, for she rarely even heard of groupings as large of this forming, none the less dancing outside (although she never understood why this was dangerous). As she approached even closer to this rhythm, Pokemon disappeared from the ledges an all the grounds around her. She had the opportunity to even spot a few fragile wooden structures, devices which she'd never seen any Pokemon construct before (although she had heard of numerous occasions where such devices were built far into isolation).

As she approached a clearing filled with a great deal of creatures and bonfires all about, all dancing in beat to the music around the fires or playing some kind of beautiful music themselves, all singing nonsense verses about Arceus, Giratina and Zoroark. Wow, these Pokemon have really lost it...

Suddenly, a Granbull danced her way in front of Xerxes, making his way around the fire closest to her; And, as he almost crashed into her, he stopped dead in his tracks and shouted above the music, "Want to daaance?"

Xerxes crossed her arms and replied calmly, "No, I'm fine. Do you happen to know of a Zoroark?"

The Granbull dropped his grand smile and tilted his head in the slightest. "Zoroark? Oh, no, he wanted today off. We're dancing for him because he'll love us even more!"

"Oh." Xerxes looked around a bit. Although most of the Pokemon looked uncomfortable in this frost, they were really enjoying themselves. "So you're dancing for him?"

"For love and respect, me lady! Care to join?"

"So, where did you say this Zoroark is?"

The Granbull rolled its eyes and replied, "He's in his den. Care to dance now, miss?"

"I'm fine." Xerxes tried to push past but was blocked by the hulking Granbull. "I don't want to dance."

"Where you from? Never saw you around before, miss." The Granbull was definitely suspicious.