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To be perfectly honest, I don't know how we managed to avoid going stir-crazy, stuck on that mountain ledge and knowing that, every second we lingered, we wasted precious time. After about a week - I say "about" because it was difficult to precisely judge the passage of time beyond the passing of day and night - Michaela showed no signs of recovery and we began to grow concerned.
We knew her powers needed recharging, but none of us could figure out a way to do so. Even when her Jolteon and Jodie's Mareep had combined their Electric Attacks, it still hadn't been enough - and we knew no Pokemon Centre, even if we could get to one, would have the facilities to treat a human suffering from the effects of using too much electricity.
I let Sophie out of her Poke Ball so she could get some exercise, but, almost as if she sensed how troubled I was, she simply knelt beside me and rested her head on my shoulder.
"Bayleef," she murmured as if trying to reassure me. It was a reassurance I did not feel and what happened next further heightened my anxiety.
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As if from nowhere, three large horse-Pokemon appeared on the horizon - and I could tell, even from this distance and without the benefit of a pair of binoculars, that these were not ordinary horse-Pokemon like Ponyta and Rapidash. Rather, they were huge winged beasts and instinct told me they had to be the three Horses of Twilight I'd read about in one of Justine's books a while back.
"You guys!" I called to the others. "I think we're in trouble!"
Startled, they all looked towards the sky, now completely dominated by the Horses. "What's happening?" Jodie asked in a frightened voice. "Hilary, what ARE those things?"
"I'm not sure," I told her, stroking Sophie as I spoke. "But it looks like Flarequine, Chilval and Dynahorse - the Horses of Twilight . . ."
"Horses of Twilight?" Jodie echoed. I could tell from her expression that the number of unusual things that had happe lately was beginning to tell on her - suddenly being singled out to find the Orb of Twilight and help Psyrene's kind had been one thing, but then we had discovered its connection to Lugia and, ultimately it seemed, to the fate of the whole world.
"If they've appeared, the world IS in trouble," Justine added darkly, before going on to explain everything.
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The Horses of Twilight were exceptional even for Legendary Pokemon - many sightings of them individually had been reported, but no-one had ever seen all three together and it had long been hoped that no-one would. For legend had it that, only when all was lost, would they descend from their Kingdom in the sky.
First came Flarequine, an orange horse nearly thirty hands high and with a body made of what appeared to be solid fire. His black eyes were narrow slits and, in a v-formation behind him, flew the other two Horses of Twilight, Chilval and Dynahorse.
Chilval was a Ice Type Pokemon, a little smaller than Flarequine at twenty-eight hands high - it was even said that she had hooves of solid ice and was responsible for the halo that appeared around the moon in cold weather. With her dazzling blue body and magnificent wings, she was by far the most beautiful of the three and, if the situation hadn't been so grave, I would have been captivated by her as she flew through the air.
At twenty-five hands, Dynahorse was the smallest of the three, but he was also the most distinctive. He was bright yellow, a colour which seemed to be particularly common with Electric Types, and had what looked like black lightning bolts marked out on his flanks. As he flew, lightning gathered around his body and exploded as a powerful charge of electricity. The resulting flash was so dazzling that I had to close my eyes and didn't dare open them again for what felt like hours.
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In fact, it can't have been more than a few minutes before I blinked and looked round to see that the Horses had landed in our midst. Flarequine and Chilval stood cropping the grass as if they were no different to Adam's Rapidash, while Dynahorse seemed unusually pre-occupied with Michaela and kept nudging her as if pleading with her to get up.
Morphing into my Bellossom form, I went up to Dynahorse and asked him what was going on and why he and the other Horses of Twilight were here on Earth.
"So it's you," he said. "You are the Children of Twilight."
I gasped and stepped back a little, wondering what else he would reveal on top of what we had already pieced together in the time since Psyrene had given us our powers. Dynahorse continued to speak, barely averting his gaze from Michaela as he did so.
"It was written long ago that you, Hilary West, and your friends would be the only ones who could avert the Age of Twilight should the sacred Orb ever fall into the wrong hands," he explained. "For only with its power and the help of Lugia can wrong be made right . . ."
"Well, it's a little late to tell me now!" I snapped. "Lugia, the old Lugia, died weeks ago and we've been trying to find a replacement ever since . . ."
"Then you must make haste," Dynahorse replied sorrowfully. "For every second that the world is without a Lugia as its Great Guardian, the Age of Twilight draws ever nearer . . ."
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With a sinking feeling in my heart, I knew Dynahorse was right - if we did not find the Orb of Twilight and the next Lugia along with it soon, all would be lost. Stuck in the mountains like this, we had no radio contact and, consequently, no way of knowing what we would find once we returned to civilisation.
As if reading my mind, Dynahorse nodded. "We Horses of Twilight were sent to you in the hope that we might succeed where the Birds failed," he explained. "But, first, I have to revive your friend . . ." He nodded towards Michaela, who had not stirred throughout all of this. "As only with all five of you can the Orb of Twilight be restored."
"But we don't even know where the Orb of Twilight is!" I said in exasperation. "Well, we've got a rough idea that it's somewhere on Mount Moon - only some power-hungry human is trying to harness its power and . . ."
I broke off when I realised Flarequine and Chilval had joined their companion and were staring at me in earnest. "The Collector," Chilval said grimly. "Ever since he lost everything after trying to capture Lugia a few years ago, he's been plotting ways to make us Legendaries his servants. Trapping that colony of Psyrene and Po-psydron was just the start . . ."
I gasped. "You mean Lawrence was the one who caused Psyrene's tribe to disappear!" I exclaimed, beginning to realise at last how all this fitted together. The Psyrene and Po-psydron helped Lugia protect the Orb of Twilight, so removing them had weakened his hold over it and had, possibly, hastened his death as well. The only thing it didn't explain was how anyone could be so blinded by his own megalomania that he would wilfully risk endangering the world. Especially after he had already caused a near disaster once . . .
The three Horses nodded as one. "He had it all planned from the start," Flarequine said, speaking for the first time. "Without the Orb of Twilight, the race of the Lugia would end, but there was no way he could get it with the Psyrene and Po-psydron guarding it . . ."
At that point, Dynahorse interupted him. "All well and good," he snapped. "But it won't help if only four of these girls can complete the quest - just stand back and leave this to me!"
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After we had retreated to a safe distance, Dynahorse charged up the electricity in his body and sent a bolt towards Michaela. For a few agonising moments, nothing appeared to happen, but, presently, she began to cough and struggle to sit up.
Changing back into my human form, I ran to her side and held her as she recovered. Seeing the three Horses of Twilight standing nearby, she screamed and promptly closed her eyes again - like the rest of us she had heard that they only came together in the world's time of direst need, when none of the other Legendary Pokemon had the power to do anything.
"It's OK, Michaela," I told her. "Flarequine, Chilval and Dynahorse are here to help us - in fact, Dynahorse is the one who brought you round."
Flarequine was speaking again, but we couldn't understand him while we were in our human forms so we elected Milly, since her Pokemon form was a Fire Type, to morph and act as a translator. It was quite bizarre watching her stand there in the shape of a nine-tailed fox talking to a giant winged horse, but the number of surprises we had had lately meant we had become almost accustomed to these things.
"Ninetales nine nine?" Milly asked, adopting a pose which suggested that she was going to stand her ground no matter what. In her Ninetales form, she had some resistence to fire, but I wasn't sure how much of Flarequine's Attack she could take.
Flarequine reared up on his hind legs and whinnied loudly several times - once Milly seemed satisfied she had her answer, she changed back into her human form and began to explain.
"Lawrence has the Orb of Twilight right at the summit of Mount Moon."
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So we now knew where to find the Orb of Twilight and, hopefully, we would be able to retrieve it in time to rescue the Psyrene and Po-psydron, bring about the birth of the next Lugia and avert the Age of Twilight. Things had been bad enough when we left Fuchsia City, but, if they got as bad as Psyrene had hinted they would, we would be lucky to have a home to go back to. Already, just before we left with Adam and his balloon, there had been talk of the Gym Leaders from both Kanto and Johto assembling for a emergency conference - and we knew Gym Leaders rarely left their Gyms unless in exceptional circumstances.
The only trouble was getting to the summit. We'd managed to repair Adam's balloon and Milly (in her Ninetales form) and her Flareon would be able to take it in turns keeping it filled with hot air. But we did not want to risk running into the Murkrow again as they had already cost us time we could ill afford to lose.
It was Chilval who came up with the solution. Using her mouth, she picked up some ropes from inside the balloon basket and handed one end to me - then, she nodded towards Dynahorse.
I cottoned on immediately. "You mean you and Dynahorse are gonna pull us through the sky?" I asked, instinctively reaching out to pet her - it was like stroking an icicle and my hand grew so numb I had to stop after a few seconds.
Chilval nodded, so the six of us set to work rigging up a makeshift harness and attaching one end to the balloon basket and the other to Chilval and Dynahorse. Since Flarequine's flames would burn through the rope, he would fly alongside us, but at least it meant we were finally making progress in our quest.
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As we flew through the sky in a balloon basket pulled by two Legendary Horses of Twilight, I began to think about my family and, in particular, Sarah.
She was a great kid and I hoped everything would turn out right for her so she would be able to go on her Pokemon journey next year like she had always dreamed since she was old enough to talk and be aware of Pokemon. But, judging by the way things had been when we last had contact with home, I wasn't sure what I would find even after we had fulfilled our mission and recovered the Orb of Twilight. To go through what we had endured and then find that the world as we knew it was destroyed anyway would be more than any of us could bear.
"Please," I prayed, staring upwards. "Please let us be on time . . ."
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