~~~⚜️~~~

Valens drug himself out of the water, his thick coat dripping with water. The Flame Pokémon collapsed onto the beach, exhausted from his struggle against the relentless sea.

Once he had gotten his breath back, the fire- type slowly pulled himself up into sitting position as he observed his surroundings.

The beach was rocky and covered in hard pebbles. Large rocks dotted the shore, some on the beach, some in the water. Valens shuddered when he thought about what would had happened if the waves had driven him into the boulders.

"Acer! Malacia!" the Flame Pokémon called, hoping that his friends were nearby.

The Flareon scanned up and down the rocky shore. However, his companions were nowhere in sight.

"Acer, Malacia?" the Flame Pokémon called, this time more reluctantly, searching for any sign of the Vaporeon or Jolteon.

"This isn't funny, you two! Show yourselves!" Valens demanded. Only the hollow echo of his voice answered his call.

Valens stared out over the sparkling ocean. He could see the mainland in the distance, with trees stripped of their leaves and lives.

He could also see two islands, similar to his. Thunder crashed over one, and the other had a thick, misty cloud hanging over its peak.

The Flareon's eyes widened as he spotted a large, fiery bird flying in the direction of the island he was on.

The Pokémon landed in front of him and stared down at the smaller Pokémon. Valens squirmed under the intense gaze of the fire titan, and the flames on the bird's wings did nothing to ease his nerves.

"You hate me," the fire titan noted, "You hate me and the others with every ounce of hate you have. However, you lack the courage to stop us. You fear us, and your fear is more powerful than your will."

Valens stared at the large bird Pokémon. "H- how do you-"

The fire bird cut him off. "I can see it in your eyes. I am Moltres, the titan of fire. If you truly do wish to end this strife, come meet me at the summit, and I shall accept your challenge."

Before the Flareon had anytime to protest, Moltres rose into the air with a few flaps from his strong wings before soaring up to the peak of the mountain.

Valens was rooted to the spot, shocked. True, earlier he had spoken of defeating the birds, but Malacia's words came back to him, echoing in his head.

We are just Pokémon. What can we do?

He shook the thoughts from his head. Moltres had personally challenged him. He wasn't going to back down. And besides, there wasn't anything else he could do.

The Flareon turned towards the towering mountain. Taking a deep breath, he walked forward and slowly started to pad up the rough terrain. There was a trail that he assumed lead to the summit, but it was rough and, at times, almost non- existent.

To make matters worse, the higher the small Flame Pokémon climbed, the hotter the temperature became. This worried Valens greatly. Mountains were supposed to get colder the higher you went, not warmer.

The answer soon became clear to the Flareon. As he slowly rounded a corner, Valens was faced with many pits of boiling lava.

This isn't a mountain, he realized, this is a volcano I'm climbing!

Valens watched wide- eyed as the pits in front of him slowly bubbled with a sickening, gurgling noise. The air above the pits was blurred from the extreme heat, and occasionally a jet of steam would burst from a crack in the volcano.

The Flareon whimpered, backing away from the pits of lava. He crouched low to the ground.

It's just lava, he thought, straightening, I mean, it's not fire, right?

The Flame Pokémon slowly padded up to the edge of one of the pits and watched the molten rock slowly boil.

Haha, just lava. Just lava. Ahahahaha. Yeah, right.

As Valens watched, a particularly large bubble in the boiling pit popped, spraying lava onto the rugged path. Some shrubbery that lined the path caught fire, and the blaze snagged Valens' attention away from the bubbling rock.

He eyed the flames fearfully, frozen as unwelcome memories swarmed into his mind.

~~~⚜️~~~

A little Eevee pup watched fearfully as three figures flew across the sky, screeching in rage.

"Valens, we must hurry!" a voice called.

The Eevee turned to face an Espeon, whose slim figure was outlined by the flaming forest.

"Valens, can you hear me? We must get away from here and follow the river to safety! This fire will destroy us if we stay!" the Espeon exclaimed.

The tiny Eevee nodded mutely, and the Espeon lead the way though the flames.

The two raced through the fiery forest, weaving between burning trees and ducking under flaming branches.

Suddenly, the Eevee's paw snagged on something, and he collapsed onto the charred forest floor. Pain flared in his paw as he attempted to stand. He let out a whimper as he glanced around.

Sudden, his mom appeared at his side. "Valens, are you alright?" she inquired.

"M- my paw hurts," the pup whimpered.

"We must get to the river," the Espeon muttered. She carefully picked up the Eevee by his scruff and raced through the forest with him dangling from her mouth.

Suddenly, a shallow stream appeared through the burning trees, seeming to glow from the flames around it.

This encouraged the Espeon, who picked up her pace. The beating of her paws seemed to say, "Almost there... almost there... almost there."

Suddenly, just before the pair cleared the last trees, a loud crack split the air.

The Sun Pokémon's steps faltered and she slowed slightly- a fatal mistake.

A series of events too quick for the Eevee to track followed. The Evolution Pokémon blinked as he found himself suddenly belly- deep in the shallow stream.

The petite pup glanced around frantically for his mom. "Mom!" he cried, "MOM!"

Suddenly, the pup spotted the path that he believed to have come from was blocked by a large, fallen branch.

"M- m- mom?" he stuttered, already knowing there would be no response. "Mom, n- no..." he whimpered as tears clouded his vision.

Follow the river to safety.

The words flashed though his mind. The same words his mom had said.

The pup swallowed his tear and, with one more mournful glance at where his mom laid, he raced down the shallow river bed to safety.

Thunder rumbled in the distance as a mournful cry echoing his own resounded through the forest.

"MOM! DAD!"

The Eevee pressed on.

~~~⚜️~~~

A loud crackling noise snapped Valens out of his daydream. The bush had burned to ashes and the lava still boiled threateningly.

Valens shook the clinging memories away and focused on the task before him. Dwelling on the past would give him nothing but pain.

Valens observed the bubbling pits of lava in front of him, mentally drawing a route though the molten rock. Then, taking a deep breath, he skirted the edge of the pits, every paw step careful and fearful.

The Flareon let out a sigh of relief as he finally reached the end of the molten path. He surveyed the bath ahead. It appeared safe enough. He cautiously continued up the winding path that lead to the summit's peak.

As the Flame Pokémon neared the top, the path he was walking on lead to into the mountain. Following the trail, Valens padded into the cave, glancing around fearfully, with his ears against his head.

The cavern was sweltering, although the heat had little physical effect on Valens. The air shimmered with the intense heat, and jets of hot steam burst from cracks in the floor, ceiling, and walls.

Cautiously, the Flareon continued to follow the rocky trail, flinching whenever the steam blasted out of a crack near him.

Eventually, Valens reached the exit, and almost gleefully raced out. However, once he saw who was waiting for him, he ground to a halt.

"It took you long enough," the titan of fire snarled, glaring at the small Flareon, "Although your antics were quite humorous. You cower from the flames, although they don't harm you."

Valens didn't reply, and glared at the legendary defiantly, although a large part of him wanted to flee.

"If you fear flames so much, I wonder," Moltres noted, "how you will combat my Flamethrower!"

Flames erupted from the titan's mouth, and the Flare on barely managed to dodge to the side.

"Lucky break," Moltres snorted, eyeing the seared rock where Valens had been standing just moments ago, "It won't happen again."

Valens crouched low on the ground, fighting the panic that was threatening to take hold of him. Images of charred trees and burning logs flooded his mind.

Trapped in memories, the Flareon was unable to dodge the next Flamethrower, and its fire engulfed him.

Valens felt the flames sear his fur, although no physical pain was done. He collapsed onto the floor, worn out from his mental struggle.

Moltres towered over him. "Giving up already?" he challenged, "That was way too easy, and not as much fun as I thought it would be."

The legendary looked at the small Flareon, writhing on the ground from the strain of a mental struggle.

The titan sighed, "I suppose I could at least end his sufferings." He readied one final Flamethrower.

Valens whimpered, closing his eyes. As his consciousness left him, a thought pierced his mind, like lightning.

I'm sorry, mom... I made a mistake...

This was quickly followed by another, almost haunting melody.

Life can be a challenge...

~~~⚜️~~~