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Pokémon: Dancing on Wings

Flannery walked angrily down the streets of Fortree City. She'd had a bad day and just wanted to relax. She'd been so distracted by recent events that she'd even messed up on running a trainer through her Gym challenge. She felt embarrassed and tired and a boiling pot of many other emotions. She'd decided on a whim to go visit Winona, the Gym leader of Fortree and her closest friend.

Technically Flannery could've called ahead and asked Winona if she was free, but she'd decided she wanted to surprise her friend. They'd both been so busy with official work lately that they'd been unable to hang out. Flannery knew, or assumed she did, that they were both exhausted and needed a girl's night out. Plus, a few months ago Winona had gotten her a Fletchling and she knew the other Gym leader would be happy to see how the tiny robin Pokémon was doing.

Winona was a bit of a busybody and was always flying by to check to make sure she was doing her job as a Gym leader properly. But it was obvious that she was doing it because she was Flannery's friend and she appreciated all the effort her friend put into helping her. Besides being Gym Leaders, they didn't really have a lot in common but that had never hindered their friendship. Flannery liked fire types and Winona was in love with flying Pokémon. Winona's idea of fun was hanging out on top of whatever was the highest point near her and just watching the sky. Flannery preferred a dip in the hot springs that her city was famous for. Flannery had inherited her Gym from her grandfather while Winona had built hers up from scratch. Opposites attracted apparently.

Flannery's hand wandered to her belt where she kept her Pokéballs. It fell on a particular Pokéball, the one that held the Pokémon Winona had given her. She felt a grin growing on her face as she thought about the surprise that would appear on Winona's face as she saw how her Fletchling had grown. Her grandfather chided her often that she got a little too focused when it came to raising her Pokémon. A new Pokémon usually led to forgotten chores and duties as a Gym leader. Flannery had argued that it would be unfair to her Pokémon to not put in the proper effort in raising and training them. In fact, this had been the topic Flannery had complained to Winona about over drinks last time they had met up. Winona had stayed silent on the subject, probably wisely so, but she had given that knowing, affectionate smile of hers that Flannery wasn't entirely sure the other women realized she gave. Why someone as pretty as Winona didn't constantly have a boyfriend was one of the eternal mysteries for Flannery.

Flannery checked her Pokégear and saw that Winona should be done with battles for the day. She tended to start earlier and end later than Flannery with her battle hours but that was mostly because the aerial battles Winona engaged in tended to take longer, so she needed to budget for it. Flannery's battles tended to go quicker and be more explosive due to the nature of her Pokémon.

Looking up, Flannery could see the tall platform that substituted as Winona's Gym. It was quite an impressive structure really, and had been designed personally by Winona. Different types of Gym battles or specializations demanded different Gym layouts but Winona's took this to the extreme. The platform rose above the tops of almost every building and tree in Fortree. There was a freight elevator built into the platform that could take up even a Snorlax but it was the ladders built at several points into the structure that were mostly used. They were meant to teach would-be challengers about how much effort it really took to soar through the sky like a bird. Winona used the ladders herself, always climbing up and down, never actually taking the elevator. The whole thing was built to be as safe as physically possible; secure to earthquakes, the stresses of battle, and anything else that could occur.

Flannery always worried that when she was up there she, or someone else, would fall off. She squinted as something caught her eye. She must be more tired than she'd thought because she saw a figure falling off from the top of the structure, plummeting towards the ground, arms and legs spread out like a skydiver trying to slow their fall. After a moment, she realized that she wasn't imagining things and she was running forward into action. Her hand ripped a Pokéball from her belt and she threw it into the air as hard as she could after thumbing the release. "Talonflame! Catch them!"

The large scorching bird Pokémon flew out of the Pokéball in a flash of light, accelerating with blinding speed to intercept the falling person. Vibrant red feathers with an underlying soft orange covered a Talonflame who was large even for her species. She was almost four feet long with an even more impressive wing span. Flannery didn't know if Talonflame could fly a person through the air, she'd never tried, but now it seemed like they'd find out the hard way. Talonflame reached the falling person and closed her talons over the person's spread out arms. She started to furiously flap her wings to slow their descent. In addition, she moved them forward, trying to buy them more time by half gliding to control the fall and momentum. For a moment, it didn't seem to be working and Flannery wondered if she could possibly catch both of them without getting squashed herself.

But soon their fall started to slow more and more. Talonflame was struggling to keep everything under control and Flannery swore that she was going to spoil her rotten after this. Luckily, Talonflame's passenger was making things easier by not struggling or flailing or panicking in any of the ways people tended to when in the talons of a large predator. As they lowered into view Flannery suddenly knew why and her eyes widened in surprise.

"Winona?!" she asked, surprised. "What are you doing falling off your Gym?"

Talonflame flapped furiously for the last few feet but finally had enough. She dropped Winona, but the flying trainer was ready for it and landed gracefully. As she did she held out her arm and gave a cooing noise. Talonflame flapped once more to land on her outstretched arm, chest puffing heavily in and out. Winona held out a gloved hand and scratched the back of Talonflame's head, earning a happy trill in response. "Good girl," whispered Winona in the dreamy tone she used when talking to bird Pokémon, or to Flannery about bird Pokémon. She turned to Flannery and smiled. "Hello Flannery, what brings you into Fortree unannounced?"

"I came for a girl's night out," replied Flannery. "Now, how did you fall? Why didn't you send out one of your Pokémon to catch yourself?"

"I jumped," said Winona simply. At Flannery's shocked expression she pointed up. "It was for fun; to feel what it's like to dive. It was safe, Altaria, Skarmory and Swellow were all watching." And indeed, the three Pokémon choose that moment to fly down, all landing around their trainer and studying the newcomer on her shoulder.

Altaria started to rub against Flannery and the fire trainer indulged her by starting to pet her on the head. She continued to stare incredulously at Winona. "You jumped off the tallest structure in the city just to know what it felt like? Flying isn't enough of a rush for you?"

"How can I appreciate what a bird Pokémon goes through when falling if I don't do something like this?"

"I feel like there had to be a better way to feel that."

Winona just shrugged. "Maybe. It was a spur of the moment whim." She smiled slyly at Flannery. "Much like a certain someone coming to visit without calling. Have a bad day?"

"What makes you think that?" asked Flannery.

"You always come unannounced after you had a bad day. You are predictable like that."

"You make it sound like I only visit when my days were tough," complained Flannery, feeling a little bad that she had such a pattern. It felt like using Winona more than being her friend.

Winona lifted her arm and Talonflame shot into the air, giving a happy cry as she did so. Winona smiled at the sight. "You raised her well," commented Winona, still looking up into the sky.

Flannery shrugged at the compliment, trying to play it off as nothing, but feeling extremely happy but also embarrassed to hear it. "She was your gift to me, of course I took good care of her." This time it was Flannery's turn to smiled slyly at Winona. "So, in thanks for saving your life and all that, how about you treat me tonight?"

"Sure thing," replied Winona. "Where to first?"

"The bath house," replied Flannery. She tugged on the collar of her shirt, grimacing. "I'm all smelly and could use a hot bath."

"You live at a hot spring," pointed out Winona. "Do you not get enough of hot water?"

"Do you get enough of heights?" countered Flannery. "It just means I can appreciate a hot bath even more. I bet you're worse off than I am in that flight suit of yours."

Winona just shrugged. "It's cold up there and some of us don't have hot water in our veins."

Flannery grabbed her by the shoulder and started to tug her towards the bath house. "You'll be glad to have hot water around you soon enough." She looked up into the sky where Talonflame was playing with Swellow while Skarmory and Altaria watched. "Do we just want to leave them all out here while we go out?"

Winona nodded. "Yeah. Let them get to know each other."

Flannery threw her arm around Winona's shoulders and held her close. "It'll be a girls' night out!"

Flannery couldn't rinse herself off fast enough, dumping the bucket of water over her head. The water washed away all the soap she'd lathered into her hair and onto her body. The water was still rolling off her as she dropped the bucket to the ground and stood up. She walked over to the water as fast as she could but it wasn't fast enough. She gave a sigh of relief as she sank into the hot water, closing her eyes as she did so.

After a moment, she opened them in time to see Winona walking into the room. Her flight suit took a little more time to take off than Flannery's ripped jeans and t-shirt, plus the flying trainer liked to take her time doing things. She walked slowly across the room, her lithe, athletic body drawing stares from the other women in the room.

Or maybe it was the colorful tattoos that decorated her body. Flannery wasn't sure if it was the fact she was always covered up or something about her personality that made people surprised to find out that she was covered in ink illustrations. Or maybe they expected it of Flannery instead. She'd never really wanted a tattoo, or known what she'd get if she did. Also, she knew her grandfather would throw a fit if she did so.

Winona on the other hand had no one who would tell her not to cover herself in tattoos. On her back was the wing span of a Swellow, vibrant blues and red feathers decorating her. Her arms were simpler, each on with a single silver Skarmory feather. Her right leg had Peliper feathers around it and her left Tropius leaves. Altaria down covered her hips, and the tattoo always made Flannery wonder how comfortable Winona must be with whoever did her tattoos. Winona always said she was one with the bird Pokémon, but she definitely took it to a level few usually went.

Winona took her time washing herself, keeping her back to Flannery as she did so. As she felt herself relaxing in the bath her eyes focused on the Swellow tattoo, which had been Winona's first tattoo, and couldn't help but wonder once again what Pokémon she'd get a tattoo of. Her favorite Pokémon was probably Torkoal, but she didn't think Torkoal would make as pretty of a tattoo as a Swellow. She tried to imagine a Slugma tattoo and couldn't help but start laughing, drawing strange looks from the people around her.

Winona quietly slid into the water next to her, giving a sigh of her own. Flannery smiled at her. "See, this was definitely a good idea. Personal baths can't hold a candle to a bath this large. It just makes all your troubles wash away…"

"What troubles do you have to wash away?" asked Winona, direct like usual.

"You know, the usual. Training my Pokémon, running the Gym, making sure there's no problems around the town. You know how it is."

Winona nodded. "I do. But there's something else. How's your boyfriend doing?"

Flannery gave a low growl at that. "That jerk is probably enjoying himself with his new girlfriend right now. Maybe if I'm lucky he'll trip into Mt. Chimney."

"That bad?" asked Winona.

"Yes! He'd already been dating his new girlfriend a week before telling me! And when he was telling me it was because we weren't compatible he dropped several comments about how I spent too much time with the Gym and my Pokémon and how I didn't put out for him!"

Flannery let out a deep breath, trying to calm herself again. "You're attractive, I'm surprised you haven't had a boyfriend." She threw a glance at Winona. "Have you?"

Winona was quiet for a moment before answering. "Swellow mate for life. I want to get it right."

They were both silent after that, just sitting and enjoying the warm bath.

Once they were done bathing they got dressed and headed out to get some food. Fortree City was a rather odd place. The popular building design was two-story treehouse homes connected by a walkway. That was only for the homes though. Buildings that demanded a larger floor plan had to be built in a more traditional, but not typical, fashion. The Pokécenter and Pokémart in town each looked effectively identical to the ones that could be found in almost every town, which helped trainers to find them quickly. The bathhouse, stores, restaurants, and other establishments took a bit of an in-between approach between modern and traditional. The older buildings were built out of wood which was well tended to, while the newer buildings tended towards painting themselves in shades of greens and browns to match with the rest of the town. Every building had its own unique quirk or decoration that separated it from those surrounding it while still maintaining harmony.

All in all, the town was a beautiful one and Flannery loved to visit. There was a blend and acceptance of nature and the surrounding, in some cases encroaching, forest that just felt right. It probably wouldn't surprise anyone then that someone like Winona, who was almost closer to Pokémon than people, could flourish here. While Winona seemed to be a constant source of amazement and mystery for the people of Fortree, she herself knew what every building contained and who lived and worked where. A literal birds eye view from the sky and a curiosity and intensity had served her well throughout the years.

Even more importantly to Flannery at the current moment, this knowledge always served Winona well when it came to picking out a restaurant for them to eat at. She knew all the best places, and how busy they were. Flannery wasn't sure that Winona couldn't talk to flying Pokémon and get reports from them with how accurate her information always was. Either way, Flannery was excited for some traditional barbeque and to drink her troubles away. She was now 0 for 3 with keeping boyfriends for any substantial amount of time. What was the point of dating if she couldn't keep a boyfriend to the first anniversary? For that matter, two had dumped her before the hundredth day mark. Raising Pokémon was easy, relationships were hard and she was apparently doing something very, very wrong.

The two Gym Leaders were sat down quickly at the quiet little restaurant in a corner in the back of the store. The two women sat on cushioned benches on opposite sides of the table which had a small grill placed in the middle of it. Flannery ordered herself a beer and a variety of vegetables. Winona didn't drink alcohol, so she just ordered herself a glass of water, a piece of fish and some spicy chicken.

Flannery had asked Winona once why she ate chicken if she saw herself as a bird, but the other woman had just replied simply that chickens weren't Pokémon and larger flying Pokémon fed on meat, such as small birds. Winona had responded by asking why Flannery didn't eat meat and Flannery had replied that it was just something she'd started doing as a kid and she was used to doing so. Although she'd also laughed and said she'd probably had a good reason for doing as a kid. She didn't really like the concept of killing an animal for food, not that she'd ever force someone else to do the same. Most of her Pokémon tended towards eating rocks for their diets, so that made things easier for her.

Fletchling, now Talonflame, ate meat occasionally though. Her diet consisted of fruits, nuts, and the occasional small non-Pokémon rodent. Pokémon didn't tend to eat each other, regardless of their type or species, they all seemed to recognize each other as Pokémon. Humans had also adopted the rule of not eating Pokémon, which saved Flannery from a lot of probable disgust at her fellow humans. Pokémon were, and always had been, friends not food.

"How have your Gym challenges been going lately?" asked Winona.

The waiter came by and dropped off their drinks. Flannery took a sip of her beer before answering Winona's question. "I think I've finally got the hang of them. Make them challenging, but not impossible. Judge difficulty based on the number of badges they have and tailor the challenge to that. Things seem to be working out, most days."

Winona took a sip of her water, eyeing Flannery while she did. "Most days?"

"I might have been distracted today and gave a higher-level challenge to a little girl who was a first time Gym challenger," replied Flannery. She took another sip of her beer, enjoying the distraction. "Torkoal stomped her Wingull in one move. She ran out crying and I had to run after her to apologize and promise her a proper rematch tomorrow. I'm hoping things go well and I didn't just crush a little girl's dream to be champion…"

"You do need to focus properly," scolded Winona, causing Flannery to flinch at her tone. Winona's scowl then turned up into a smile. "But I know you will get it right tomorrow. You recognized you made a large mistake and took steps to admit and correct it. That is what a responsible Gym Leader needs to do."

Flannery smiled gratefully. "Thanks. I won't let it happen again." She took another sip of her beer. The two Gym Leaders were silent for a moment before their waiter brought over their food and they thanked her as she turned on the grill in their table and left. Flannery placed the tin foil wrapped vegetables down on one side of the grill as Winona did the same for her fish and chicken. The food cooked for a few minutes and Flannery took a few sips of her beer as she waited for the food which smelled better each second.

When she'd deemed enough time had passed and juice was starting to drip out and sizzle on the grill she removed the vegetables with some tongs and placed the package on her plate. Flannery quickly opened the hot tin foil and practically drooled as she saw the perfectly cooked vegetables open in front of her. Using chopsticks, she picked up the hot food and placed it in her mouth, enjoying the taste.

Winona meanwhile carefully removed and opened her own food. Instead of eating it though she let it sit and cool down. She studied Flannery for a moment. "How is it you never seemed to get burned eating food directly off the grill?"

Flannery shrugged, swallowing, and washing down the warm vegetables with some beer. "Don't know. Torkoal and Slugma also liked their food hot. Maybe I'm actually a fire Pokémon?" Flannery winked mischievously at Winona as she spoke. Winona looked down at that comment, a reaction Flannery hadn't been expecting. She studied her friend for a moment. "Is something wrong?"

Winona took a moment to respond. "I have just been doing a lot of thinking lately," she replied simply.

"About what?" asked Flannery, taking another bite of her vegetables.

"I had a realization earlier today and I've just been thinking hard on it," replied Winona cryptically. Instead of saying more she started to eat her food, apparently finding it cool enough now for her tastes.

Flannery felt slightly frustrated at the response. Her friend could be hard to read at times and not exactly showy, despite being so eccentric, but this was a new level for her. Honestly, it annoyed Flannery that Winona apparently couldn't trust her with whatever was distracting her. After taking another sip of her beer, Flannery flashed a grin at her friend. "Come on, it's so rare that you have a problem. It feels like you're always just helping me. Let me help if I can. I've found talking helps me to solve problems I'm having."

"I have a girl I am attracted to," admitted Winona simply.

"Who!?" asked Flannery eagerly, a large smile growing on her face as she leaned towards Winona.

Winona took a bite of chicken, washed it down with water and looked back at Flannery. "You."

"Oh," replied Flannery simply, the smile disappearing from her face without any conscious thought. She leaned back in her seat as she looked at her friend. Winona just continued to eat without seeming to notice Flannery's response. "Uh, since when?"

Winona shrugged as she took another bite of food. "Probably a while. It occurred to me this morning though. I jumped to try to clear my head."

"Wow…" muttered Flannery, at a loss for words.

"Then you appeared and saved me with the Pokémon I traded you," continued Winona, taking a bite of fish. "I know you're not doing it on purpose, but you made this a perfect day for me. Thank you."

"No problem…" muttered Flannery, feeling her face turning red. She shoved her remaining vegetables into her mouth to forestall any need to talking. When she finally had to swallow she made sure to immediately take a long drink of her beer. Unfortunately, that finished her beer and she was out of excuses to not talk. She leaned forward on the table, looking at the slowly eating Winona. "So…"

"Do not worry," interrupted Winona. "I won't let this get in the way of our friendship. I am perfectly content with just being friends if you want."

Flannery looked at her friend in surprise. "I didn't say I wasn't interested." It was now Winona's turn to look at her in surprise. A surprised joy was fighting to show on her face and realizing what she'd just said Flannery was quick to clear up what she'd just said. "Wait! That came out kind of wrong. I mean, it never occurred to me to think of you like that. I need some time."

A smile, filled with a mix of relief and disappointment, appeared on Winona's face. "I understand." Then, very softly, Winona added, "Thank you."

The two women finished their meal in silence. Winona slowly eating while Flannery sipped water and tried not to stare at her friend. Too much at least. Her mind was a buzz with new thoughts she needed to process. Flannery had been told by both her Grandfather and Winona that she tended to overthink everything. Pokémon training, Gym challenges, dating, etc. Now she had something new to think about and nothing on hand to distract her from her thoughts. She started to tap her foot rapidly under the table and stared way too intensely at the water glass clenched in her hand. None of it worked.

Flannery had been honest in her answer to Winona. She'd never thought of her friend like that and it had never occurred to her to think of her friend like that. Winona was just her best friend, that was all. And she knew Winona had considered Flannery her best friend also.

Except now that apparently wasn't the case. Winona saw her as someone to date. Someone to kiss. Someone to…, well, Flannery hadn't processed enough to progress beyond that point. This was going to take a lot longer to think about then the time it took for Winona to finish eating. Flannery gave a small sigh and allowed herself a small smile. Well, she'd come to take her mind off her ex-boyfriend and Winona had accomplished that. Thanks for small favors.

"Right!" commanded Winona. Swellow reacted immediately, banking to the right and dodging the high-powered stream of water that had been aimed at her. The Blastoise couldn't adjust in time as Swellow made it the rest of the way between them in a split second. Swellow had been coming in at her top speed and that translated to a lot of force hitting the hard shelled Blastoise. Blastoise's stance had been loose since he'd been swiveling constantly to try to hit Swellow as she flew through the sky. Unable to tighten up the stance before Swellow made it to him on her attack, the Blastoise wasn't prepared for the high-speed attack. Swellow had also been coming at the large turtle Pokémon from just a few feet above the platform and struck straight on. This translated to Blastoise being lifted off the platform and thrown into the air out of bounds of the arena.

"Blastoise!" came the cry of the trainer at seeing his Pokémon thrown like that.

Winona was calm as she gave the next command. "Gust!" Swellow responded diving below the plummeting Blastoise and flapping her wings. A powerful gust of wind formed and grabbed hold of Blastoise. His fall was halted and he was once again flung upwards. This time his was flung above the arena. He fell hard onto the platform, unconscious.

"That's the match," sighed the trainer. He took out a Pokéball and recalled Blastoise. As he did he flashed a weary smile at Winona. "Thanks for the match."

"It was my pleasure," replied Winona with her own smile. She held out her gloved arm and Swellow flew down and landed tiredly on it. She was breathing heavily, evidence of how close the match really had been.

Winona's opponent, Satoru, had taken out Altaria, Tropius, Skarmory and Peliper prior. She'd taken out his Pidgeot, Charzard, Venasaur and Snorlax. Both had been reduced to their starter Pokémon and the fight had been the hardest she'd ever done. Satoru had gotten third in the Indigo League and second in the Silver league. Now he was working his way through the Hoehn League and taking the gym challenges at the hardest level he could so that when the League happened he'd finally be able to claim a victory this time. Winona and her Pokémon didn't often get a chance to truly let loose, their job was to measure skill and proper aptitude, not fight all out after all.

Winona dug into her flight suit pocket and threw what she found at Satoru. "Catch," she said. He deftly did so and smiled in surprise at what he saw.

"This is your badge," he marveled.

Winona nodded. "You earned it. You fought a close battle on someone else's territory and adapted well to the conditions. You showed a mastery of knowing how to properly train and direct your flying Pokémon. You also demonstrated an impressive knowledge of how to take out flying Pokémon with ground based Pokémon."

"Thank you," replied Satoru with a small bow. "You're the hardest challenge I've faced outside of a league battle. That Swellow of yours is a tough little bird."

"Thank you," replied Winona, unconsciously puffing out her chest in pride in imitation of Swellow's mannerisms. It was nice to let loose every so often. The rush of adrenaline made it easier to ignore that worried little voice in the back of her head that told her it had been three days since she'd last talked to Flannery.

"Torkoal, withdraw!" yelled Flannery. Torkoal responded quickly, not hesitating to follow the commands of his trainer and pulling his body into his hard shell. The Hyper Beam struck Torkoal's shell and sent him flying into the air and against the wall of the gym. Torkoal landed hard on the ground and Flannery didn't hesitate to act. "Eruption!" Torkoal popped back out of his shell and fired a blast of molten rock at the enemy Salamance. Tired from the Hyper Beam the large dragon Pokémon was unable to dodge and was struck by the Eruption. He was also knocked back into the wall and fell, hard, to the ground.

"Salamance!" yelled Flannery's challenger, a young woman named Nora. "Fly up into the air!"

Salamance did so but Flannery was ready for that. "Another Eruption!" Torkoal obeyed and sent another blast of molten rock into the air. This time, instead of being a concentrated shot, the attack spread out, cutting off Salamance's route of escape.

Nora reacted quickly to Flannery's counter attack. "Earthquake!" Salamance quickly dove back towards the ground, avoiding the Eruption. He struck the ground hard and shook the whole field. The ground below Salamance shuddered and cracked, being twist under the force of the Pokémon. The Earthquake moved forward from Salamance and towards Torkoal.

"Withdraw!" commanded Flannery quickly. Torkoal wasn't fast enough to dodge out of the way of the attack, but hopefully his hard shell could take the strong attack. Unfortunately, it was especially effective against him, so his chances of survival weren't high. He withdrew into his shell right before the Earthquake struck him. The ground rose up around him and converged around him, crushing him.

Dust was thrown into the air and when it cleared Torkoal was clearly out for the count. On the other side of the field the sides of the Salamance were heaving in exertion and Nora's hands were clenched tight in anticipation. Flannery gave out a sigh and smiled as she recalled Torkoal into his Pokéball. "Torkoal is defeated, you win the match."

"Yes! yelled Nora, jumping into the air in excitement. Salamance collapsed to the ground in relief, it's equivalent of a smile. She ran over and hugged her Pokémon before returning him to his Pokéball. Flannery allowed Nora time to enjoy her victory, a smile on her face at the trainer's excitement. Flannery walked over and pulled one of her Gym's badges out of her pocket. She held it out to Nora. "Here you go, you deserve this."

"My eighth badge!" squealed Nora excitedly. She took the badge and then suddenly drew Flannery into a hug. "Thank you so much!"

"Uh, no problem," replied Flannery, awkwardly returning the hug.

Nora seemed to realize that she'd gotten a little carried away and stopped hugging Flannery, her face red in embarrassment. "Sorry about that…"

Flannery smiled encouragingly at her. "It's no problem. Are you going to take the league challenge?"

"Yes," nodded Nora. "I'm going to head back to my hometown now to celebrate and prepare."

"Good luck," bid Flannery. Nora ran off towards the Pokémon Center and Flannery surveyed the damage done to her field. Her battles took place outside for a reason in a field centered around some hot water geysers. One of those geysers had been crushed by the Earthquake and was slowly leaking water onto the field. Flannery gave a sigh. Her battles were all about showing explosive power and the ability to handle it, but she always hated when anyone used Earthquake. It made field clean-up so much harder. Sadly, it was also an extremely common move in her battles.

Taking a specially marked Pokéball off her belt, she threw it into the air. A Dugtrio appeared and sunk into the ground. A Pokémon from the Kanto region, they had been given to her Grandfather as a gift and had now been handed to her. Dugtrio wasn't a fire Pokémon and not a part of her team. They were instead trained to return the battlefield back to some semblance of order on the chance it had been destroyed.

"Ah, a hard battle I see," said a familiar voice from behind Flannery. She turned to see her Grandfather smiling at her in pride. He had once been the Gym Leader of the Lavaridge Pokémon Gym. He'd raised her as a girl and eventually passed on the Gym leadership to her. He'd also taught her how to properly raise and treat Pokémon. For all of that she loved him dearly. She also constantly feared letting him down, but it was moments like this, where she could clearly see his pride in her, that all the stress of being a Gym Leader was worth it. Seeing trainers and Pokémon learning and growing from their battles with her were also a good reward.

Flannery smiled at her Grandfather. "Yeah, it was. The trainer and her Pokémon did very well. It was their last badge to enter into the League challenge."

"Always a special time," smiled her Grandfather nostalgically. "I remember my own days training and taking the challenge. Only later in life, after I met your Grandmother, did I finally settle down in Lavaridge and become a Gym Leader."

"I bet Grandmother appreciated that," laughed Flannery.

"That she did." Her Grandfather started studying her and the grin faded from his face. "Sometimes I wonder if I pushed you too hard in taking over the Gym. Would you have traveled around taking the Pokémon League Challenge if I hadn't forced you to settle here and take over the Gym?"

"There's nothing for you to feel bad about," replied Flannery, shaking her head. "I enjoy being a Gym Leader. I was never really interested in fighting with Pokémon even as a girl. I've always just enjoyed raising them. This job allows me to do that and teach others how to do so also. I owe you for that."

Flannery's Grandfather smiled at that, his eyes misting up slightly. He wiped them dry with his sleeve. "It does me good to hear you say that. I do have to wonder though if you'd have made different choices. Would you have traveled, met someone you loved and married them like I did?"

"I've made a lot of friends as a Gym Leader, replied Flannery. An image of Winona filled her mind. "People very important to me."

Her Grandfather continued smiling. "That is good. I don't want to see you unhappy…"

They were silent for a minute, just standing together watching Dugtrio return the battlefield roughly to normal. It was impressive that they even managed to fix the geyser somehow so that it wasn't spraying water. There were times she wished she had a Gym like Winona's, a metal platform that couldn't be wrecked by an earthquake. She knew that the platform itself probably took lots of actual maintenance, but she liked to dream.

"Is there something wrong?"

Flannery looked over at her Grandfather in surprise. "Wrong?"

"You seem distracted lately," commented her Grandfather.

"Distracted?" repeated Flannery, confused. "I've been focusing better lately than I have for a while. I thought all of my Gym battles were going well and being done properly?"

Her Grandfather nodded. "They are. You're doing a very good job. You're putting yourself into the job. It almost seems like you're doing to distract yourself from something else. You used to do the same thing as a little girl when there was a large change or something was distressing you. Am I just being a worrisome old man for no reason?"

Flannery was about to say that he was but stopped. Her Grandfather had always given her good advice before and taken care of her. If he was saying there seemed to be something wrong maybe he was right. So, instead of disagreeing with him outright, she considered his words. She did in fact have the habit he mentioned now that she thought about it. It was habitual, and she'd missed it before.

More than that, she realized she'd been doing it for the past several days. She'd ran to Winona to help distract herself from thinking too much about being dumped by her boyfriend. Then Winona had confessed to her and she'd immediately fled from her. Not physically, they'd spent a nice rest of the night making small talk about Gym matters, even taking a walk around the block before returning to Winona's. Flannery had even stayed the night at Winona's since the trains had stopped running for the night and she didn't have any Pokémon to bring her home in the dead of night.

They hadn't talked about what Winona had said and Flannery had left early in the morning. She'd really needed to get back to deal with Gym matters since she'd dropped everything to hang out with Winona but really, she'd just wanted to get away. Then she'd thrown herself into her work and the past few days had been some of the most accomplished in her tenure as a Gym Leader. This had also allowed her to avoid thinking about Winona.

Flannery's hand fell to a Pokéball on her belt and she examined it. It was the ball she kept Talonflame in. She hadn't used the bird Pokémon in any of her challenges in the past few days. She'd only brought out Talonflame for feeding and care. Talonflame had been acting restlessly the last few days and Flannery had told herself what she was doing was allowing her to rest up. As she studied the Pokéball Winona's face flashed in her mind and she knew what she'd been avoiding.

"Is there something wrong with your Pokémon?" asked her Grandfather, drawing her out of her thoughts. He gestured to Talonflame's Pokéball. "That's the Pokémon your friend Winona gave you, correct? Is she sick?"

Flannery shook her head. "No, Talonflame is fine. Winona too. I think it's me who's being weird."

"Is that so," replied her Grandfather. "Do you want to talk about it?"

She started to shake her head again before stopping and giving out a deep sigh. "Grandpa, what's love?"

His eyes widened briefly in surprise before going back to studying her. "I'd say it's a feeling."

"But what type of feeling?" insisted Flannery.

"That depends on the person," he replied. "It's different for everyone. Different values and all of that."

"And what about people being in love? How do you know?"

Her Grandfather gave a small shrug. "Again, that depends. It's probably not a helpful answer, but what it means to be in love is different for each person, and how that is expressed is different between each couple."

Flannery gave another sigh. "So, no easy answers?"

Her Grandfather shook his head. "I'm afraid not."

"But how do you know when or if you're in love with someone?"

"Again, that depends on you. With your Grandmother, it just happened when we met and I knew instantly I had fallen for her. Your parents fell slowly in love, getting to know each other well. Eventually they couldn't imagine being without each other. How do you feel about this person?"

Flannery stayed silent as she thought of her Grandfather's words. What did she think of Winona? The woman was her fellow Gym Leader and a close friend. Her best friend, the one she went to with all her problems and the one she would drop anything to help out. Winona had given her Talonflame, a Pokémon she'd come to love quickly. Winona was direct, strange, pretty, tattooed, competent and caring. She was a bird Pokémon. She was a Swellow. An image of Winona's tattooed back filled her mind. Winona's words from the bath house rang in her mind. Swellow mate for life.

A smile crept onto her face. Winona was definitely strange. But she was also a good friend. Now she had feelings for Flannery. Feelings she couldn't return. She should have just told Winona that she couldn't return her feelings back at the restaurant instead of running away like she had. They were best friends and Winona was the type of person who would accept Flannery's decision. She wouldn't have lost a friendship.

But there was also a small part of her that hadn't wanted to say no. She enjoyed being together with Winona. They were colleagues. They were close friends. They talked about everything, their deepest fears, and regrets. They had seen each other naked in the bath house and hot springs. They had spent nights sleeping at the other's home. They might sometimes go weeks without seeing each other, but they were always in contact. Except for this past week. And that was Flannery's fault. Winona was giving her space and she'd taken it.

Flannery gave another sigh before looking at her Grandfather. "Life is complicated."

Her grandfather nodded in agreement. "That it is. But it's also amazingly beautiful at times."

Flannery reached out and pulled him into a hug. "Thank you. I think I've got to go and make things right." She looked around at the battle field. "I guess I'll have to do it later though."

Her Grandfather waved in his hand in a shooing motion. "Go, I can handle your work for the day. I'm still registered as your assistant Gym Leader. You've been doing good lately, so you can skip out a bit." He looked at her out of the side of his eye like he always did before scolding her. "But don't make a habit of this. I am supposed to be retired after all."

"Thank you, Grandpa," she replied with a smile. "I'll make it up to you later."

He just smiled at her. "Say hello to Winona for me."

Winona gave out a sigh as she sat at the end of her Gym platform, her legs dangling off the side. Altaria flipped lazily in circles in the air in front of her. Above her Skarmory and Swellow raced quickly through the sky, trying to tag each other, and finding the other just barely out of reach. Peliper napped in the branches of the tree that grew out of Tropius' back. She was done with all pre-registered fights for the day and the rest of her pressing Gym related work had been completed. Unless a last-minute challenger came climbing up her ladder in the next few minutes she was completely free to go about whatever she wanted to do.

Unfortunately, she found herself sitting around and doing nothing but worrying. When busy she could distract herself from the nagging feeling, but now she was unable to. She hadn't heard from Flannery and a part of her mind worried she never would. She'd wanted to give her friend time alone to think about what she'd said, but that seemed to be backfiring. Maybe it would be better to go approach Flannery herself and ask for her answer. Otherwise, she might never see the other woman again…

A shrill bird cry filled the air and Winona was surprised as a large flame colored form flew up through the air in front of her. Altaria was also surprised, giving a cry of alarm at the intruder. The form stopped and hovered just above them and Winona felt a smile as she recognized the Pokémon. "Hello Talonflame. How're you today?"

Talonflame responded with a happy cry. She turned and said something to Altaria that sounded to Winona like assurance. Despite what was said about her she didn't really speak to bird Pokémon. She was just really, really good at understanding them. Altaria understood Talonflame though and flew down below the platform to go do something.

Winona stood up on the platform and held out her arm for Talonflame. The fire Pokémon accepted the invitation and landed heavily on her gloved arm, but she was ready for the weight and accepted it easily. She reached out and scratched the Pokémon on the head, eliciting a happy trill. The noise brought a smile to her face.

"Oh good," gasped a voice that sounded out of air. "You're still here after all." Winona turned around slowly so as not to disrupt Talonflame and was surprised by who she saw behind her. Flannery stood, panting by the ladder that led up from the ground. Altaria hovered by her side. "That is one difficult climb."

The sight surprised Winona, although she probably should have realized Talonflame's presence meant that her trainer would also be near. What surprised her more though was that Flannery had taken the ladder in the first place. Flannery had been given the code to operate the elevator without assistance since she visited so often. The fact she'd taken the ladder was almost more worrying than her actual presence currently. Winona frowned. "Is the elevator broken?"

Flannery shook her head tiredly. "No, I just wanted to see what all the fuss is about. You climb up that ladder every day, right?"

Winona nodded. "I do."

"I'm not sure I've ever done so before," commented Flannery. "You've always allowed me to take the elevator or fly up on Altaria. You have the ladder there so people can understand what it takes to be a flying Pokémon better, correct?"

"Correct."

"Well, I guess I finally decided I wanted to know," shrugged Flannery, finally seeming to have caught her breath. "To know what it's like to be a bird. It's a lot of work."

"It is."

Flannery smiled at her, causing Winona's heart to beat more rapidly in her chest. "I guess I never really appreciated the effort you put into all of this before."

"You put in a lot of effort making sure your Gym runs smoothly," pointed out Winona.

Flannery shrugged. "Well, I skipped out of work to come visit you, so today might be the wrong day to say that. Although Gramps is covering today, so I guess it's fine."

"Did you come to talk about what I told you at the restaurant?" asked Winona. She disliked dancing around the issue. It just made things more difficult in the long run.

"I did," nodded Flannery. "I'm sorry I've been ignoring you these past few days."

Winona shook her head. "It's fine. I decided to give you as much time as you needed."

"I shouldn't have needed that much time," replied Flannery. "You're my best friend and I should have given you an answer sooner. I'm sorry."

"It's no problem," replied Winona. "So…what is your answer?"

Flannery looked over at Altaria and started to absently rub the dragon Pokémon's head, eliciting a happy trill. "I've been ignoring thinking on the answer too much. At least, until today. I thought about it a lot. Even on the train ride here I couldn't stop thinking over my answer. Honestly, you've always been by my side since we met and became friends. It never occurred to me to think of you as anything else."

"I was the same," nodded Winona.

"We've shared a lot. You're my best friend, and I care for you deeply. I'm just not sure if it's how you care for me."

"I understand," replied Winona sadly.

Flannery shook her head. "No, I don't mean it like that. I want to see where this could go. I don't understand love, I'm not sure I ever had. I don't know if I love you like that at least, but I want to try. I mean, we're always together and I do think you're a great person. Beautiful too. But…"

Flannery trailed off and silence descended on the two briefly. With a flutter of wings Talonflame took off from Winona's arm and into the air where Swellow and Skarmory were still playing with each other. Altaria peeled away from Flannery's touch and hovered over to Tropius and Peliper. Winona and Flannery were now left alone on top of the platform, the wind gently blowing at their hair.

Flannery smiled awkwardly at Winona. "I guess they got bored of us."

Winona smiled back. "I guess."

"So…uh, usually I'd invite you on a date, but most of my dates are usually just repeating what I usually do with you. I'm kind of lost right now."

"Well, if you don't mind then I have an idea," replied Winona.

"What?"

"We could kiss," replied Winona simply. "That would be the difference between out hanging out and your dates."

"I guess…" muttered Flannery, her face blushing bright red.

"If you're not comfortable with it then we shouldn't," commented Winona. "We could just got get dinner and continue talking."

"Talking isn't helping," complained Flannery. I'm being indecisive."

"Making yourself uncomfortable is probably not the right answer either," pointed out Winona. She took a step forward. "Let's take this at a pace comfortable for you."

Flannery studied her for a moment. "What about you? Is this comfortable with you too? I could always back out of this. Wouldn't that hurt you?"

"Maybe. But worrying about it too much doesn't make it a better path. I'm just happy to spend more time with you. If I get hurt, I'll deal with that later."

Flannery walked forward, closing the gap between them. She reached out and took Winona's hand in her own. "I don't want to hurt you."

"I know," replied Winona with a smile. "That's one of the things I love about you."

Flannery blushed again. "That's going to take a little bit to get used to. But it doesn't feel bad to hear either. I guess Grandpa was right. We'll just take this at our own pace. You ready to go eat?"

"Always," smiled Winona. Together the two women walked to the elevator. Together they entered and together they rode down to face the future. Hand in hand.

Author's Notes: Whoo! This fic is finally posted! I've had this written for a while and waiting for my overburdened and super busy beta to finish editing it. One of the inspirations for this fic was a pin-up of Winona that I saw with her covered in tattoos. Not enough characters in fiction are covered in tattoos (i say while having no tattoos). Also, I've found a severe drought of Winona/Flannery fics (which I thought were a no-brainer pairing, but I guess not?) So, I decided to fix both. I enjoyed writing this, so I'm glad it's finally up Now to start moving onto fics about Moon/Lillie...