Chapter 59: Continuing

"What the-?"
"How'd he get here?"
"And who is that other black wolf? No, not you, Crystal, that one, o'er there!"
Ash woke up reluctantly. Someone was poking him in the side. He looked up and saw Rusty standing over him, a smile on his face.
"Oh... Hi everyone," Ash yawned, trying to blink sleep from his eyes.
"How did you get back?" Stone demanded.
"Chill ya prey, let Ash explain," Rusty rolled his eyes.
Ash stared at him. "What did you just say?"
"I said, 'chill ya prey', it means... Er, never mind. Ash, just tell us what happened."
Ash told everyone the story of how the Tribe wanted Ash's help in defeating an enemy. He told them there was a prophecy, and that Spirittiger ("Spirit who?" Slice had said, who was shushed by Crystal) didn't want Ash to defeat the enemy yet, so he escaped and took Nightgale with him.
"So... This is Nightgale," Airia confirmed, pointing with her tail and the black wolf, who was sitting up to listen.
"Yes, I'm Nightgale," Nightgale said coolly. "You are?"
"Airia," mumbled Airia. "We can save the introductions for later, you'll find out who's who sometime or another." Ash could tell that Airia didn't quite trust Nightgale, but that was nothing new, of course.
"So, we should get moving," Fan interrupted Nightgale and Airia's staredown.
"Yeah, the Water Tribe isn't going to help themselves," Flare shrugged, getting to his paws.
"We should arrive there soon," Stone announced.
"Good, my paws have been aching pretty bad since the start of the journey," Eclipse sighed with relief.
"Once we get there, I want a good rest," Charlotte agreed.
"With that said, let's get moving," Creature added.
The patrol exited the cave, and began to walk north. Dust was walking next to Rusty, murmuring something to him. Ash noticed that Dust hadn't said hello to him at all, not like Ash would expect him to.
Charlotte was walking alongside Eclipse, both girls in conversation, and Ash couldn't hear them speaking at all.
"So, Ash, how was the Tribe?" asked a voice next to him. "I mean like, after we left."
Turning to his right, Ash saw that Slice was the one talking to him.
"Annoying," Ash confirmed, "they kept me in a cave to wait to defeat something, but Spirittiger told me to escape, like I told you."
"Who were you supposed to defeat?" Slice cocked her head.
"I don't know," Ash admitted. And, Slice was right. Who did the Tribe want him to vanquish?

Author's Note:
I'm not telling.