Twin2: I'm back! The middle section for this was an idea that came to me as a oneshot but instead my brain incorporated it into this story. So this chapter sort of gives us an insight into Rowan's mind.
By the way, Rowan's Pokémon and their respective names are as follows, because I couldn't put it in here: Grovyle, Kayna; Kirlia, Argyro; Shiaa, Vulpix; Zangoose, Tyra; Marill, Marika; and Pidgeot, Cloudgem.
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Wing paused as they moved to enter Oldale, a day and a half later – she and Rowan had made good time. "Are we going to walk all the way to Fortree?"
Rowan looked confused for a moment, then blinked, and the expression cleared. "What have we been doing?"
"Walking," Wing said slowly, looking at him nervously.
"Well that was dumb of us. Toria! Let's fly!" he shouted, throwing a strangely coloured ball into the air. As the Pokémon sprang out with a roar, he caught the Pokéball and Wing recognised it as a Timer Ball. Shading her eyes, she caught a glimpse of a massive blue Pokémon with red wings bearing down on them from above and threw herself out of the way.
"Mew damn it, Rowan, warn me before you do that!" she shouted, fully annoyed. She had forgotten how big these creatures were. It – she – had landed and was enjoying a quick pat from Rowan. "I had no idea your Bagon had evolved," Wing continued, in a calmer tone now that she didn't think her life was being threatened by a dragon the size of a house.
"That would be your fault for having no contact," was the curt reply. "Now get on. Toria's fast and we'll be at Fortree by sundown." The Salamence would save them a whole week of walking.
"Thank Mew we don't have to walk," Wing muttered as Toria leaped into the sky.
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Rowan was thinking. It was something he had often done flying with Toria, while looking for Wing. As the massive dragon took them over rivers, plains and forests, Rowan remembered one of the many times Wing had popped out of nowhere to save his ass, only to melt away again.
I was running, struggling to catch my breath. It felt as if I had been running forever.
Pokéballs bumped gently on my belt in time with my running feet. Their presence calmed me, just a little. It helped to know I wasn't alone, not entirely. I still had Shiaa, Kayna and Argyro.
I touched each ball in turn, reciting their names even as I stumbled over a tree root and barely righted myself in time to keep going. The dullness of twilight made the going rougher than usual, but I dreaded the coming of night.
It was far too dangerous to be out on the woods tonight. Not that the city was any better: in fact, setting foot in there again would be tantamount to shaking hands with Death. No way was I going back in there.
I was still running, and it was getting darker and darker. My breath was sobbing in my throat: I had never had to run so far, so fast, and for so long before. But if I stopped…
It was too dangerous.
I tripped again: vision was almost totally gone. I went down on my knees, bit back a yelp, stood up again, staggered on. I had to slow down, now: I had a stitch, and my legs were beginning to seize up from the long sprint. But somewhere on that terrified dash, I'd picked up a friend.
"Hi!" She seemed awfully chirpy for someone who had probably followed me all the way from the city. "Why are we running?" I glanced sideways at her. She was running about a half-pace behind me, warm brown eyes curious. Two black pigtails flicked out behind her and moved in time with the motion of her head. I guessed her to be a year or two younger than me, and maybe half a head shorter. She looked faintly familiar but it was probably coincidence.
"Who – are – you?" I managed to gasp out, barely succeeding in staying upright.
"Meh." Her eyes sparkled when she said that. "Why are we running?"
"Your name is Meh?" It was the stupidest name I'd ever heard, to be honest. Weird.
"No." She giggled. "I meant that my name wasn't important. Now, dear Rowan, what are we running from?" I snuck another glance at her: the girl was, to my utter horror, running backwards. "Hey, they're gaining on us!" she yelled, sounding awfully happy about this unwanted development.
"Are you insane?" I yelled.
"Probably," she answered. "Why are we running? Oh, and you look tired."
I wanted to hit her for such an obvious comment. But no. She was, as far as I knew, completely innocent, except of the possession of an incomparable amount of stupidity. "I'm running – because – if I – stop – I'm – pretty – much – dead," I huffed out, and tripped over a tree root. My head made contact with the ground and I saw stars.
I shook my head dizzily and tried to stand up, but someone held me down. "Let go!" I demanded, struggling.
"Oh stop it, you great idiot. Do you want a concussion?" The girl with black hair was apparently the one holding me down.
"What?! Are you crazy!? I need to get moving!"
"Oh, calm down. I can hold them off. It's only four people." I felt her stand up and tried to follow, but my body had stopped responding. It was all I could do to keep sucking air into my lungs. "You're half-dead. If you run for much longer you'd have collapsed anyways."
"But –"
She cut me off. "Pipe down and concentrate on recuperating. Sparks!" she barked suddenly. "Get down here!"
A small yellow blur dropped onto her head from the trees above us. "Pest," she muttered. "Zanna, Soluna, Koruki, let's fight!"
A vaguely familiar team leaped out of their Pokéballs without her having to touch them, and I matched the names to Pokémon I suddenly recognised: Zanna, the small but fast Taillow; Soluna, the powerful Eevee, now an Espeon; Koruki, the loyal Growlithe who was very serious for her puppyish state; and the often underestimated Sparks, with a body like a Pikachu and the attitude of a Machamp.
"Wing?" I muttered weakly, trying to sit up.
"Who else, you bloody idiot?" she teased.
"Are you crazy?! You stand no chance against them!"
Her face, half-smiling, didn't even falter. "You don't know where I've been, and you don't know who I've met, and now I'm someone you don't know," she half-sang. "Don't you worry about little ol' me. I can take care of myself." Before I could protest any further the men who had been chasing me all this time burst through a cluster of shrubs I must have either ducked around or jumped over without noticing. Wing's smile, instead of disappearing like it would have on any normal fourteen-year-old female's face, broadened into a dangerous grin.
"Oooh, and there are even five of them now!" she grinned, tilting her head in a babyish way. "Alright, my team, take your positions!" The four Pokémon shifted into slightly steadier positions, Koruki balancing her weight more on her hindquarters, Sparks lowering herself towards the ground, Zanna's wings beginning to beat out a swift rhythm and Soluna flattening her ears in concentration.
That was about when I realised exactly how much Wing had changed from the eleven-year-old I'd known so long ago. Three years of training had changed her, changed her Pokémon, but at the same time, her confident pose and wicked grin were still very familiar.
As the fight began, I recognized her style to be pretty much the same.
Each Rocket sent out a pair of Nidorino each, and two sent out Numel. The other two had a third Pokémon, as well, but a more clichéd Zubat.
"Soluna, knock yourself out," said Wing cheekily, and the Espeon loosed a powerful Psychic attack on all ten of the Nidorino at once. It was the power and range of that attack that really made me come to terms with her strength. With such a wide range the attack wasn't focused nearly enough to take them out, but as the poison-types stood up, they seemed awfully shaky.
"Sparks, Thunderbolt both Zubat!" Wing ordered, and didn't even stop to admire the handiwork, instead continuing, "Koruki, Flamethrower two nearest Nidorino! Zanna, Aerial Ace the other two! Soluna, Psycho Cut on the Numel, horizontal slice!" Each command was accenting with a vigorous hand movement or flick of Wing's head, and the Pokémon followed the lines illustrated by the swipes.
I had to admire the communication she had with the creatures, even as I struggled to get air back into my winded system. She had probably spent most of the time we'd been separated training – it was the sort of determined thing Wing would do.
And it made her all the more dangerous to her enemies.
All of the Pokémon crumpled under the force of Wing's coordinated attacks. Each of her Pokémon landed from their individual impacts completely unscathed, Koruki even grinning with excitement.
The Rockets all looked at her, and man, they were scared. "Who – who are you?!" one of them demanded, obviously trying to salvage the situation. If he could give his boss a name of who beat them…
Wing whistled softly as Zanna's Aerial Ace shoved her last opponent back into the state of red light that indicated its connection to a Pokéball, and the Taillow flew over to land delicately on her outstretched hand.
"Your boss should be familiar with me," she said, not looking at them. "Describe my team and he'll know." She must have given a signal I couldn't see, because Soluna's ears twitched and her eyes lit up. The Rockets let out screams before she teleported them somewhere – I never knew the exact location.
Wing turned back to me and she looked anxious. "Are you alright? You look bushed."
"Shut up," I managed, still panting.
"You ran all the way from the city?" she continued, looking slightly awed. "That's, like, ten k's! I'm only here 'cause I was in the forest and heard you crashing around." She sat down next to me, her Pokémon gathering around, and I managed to sit up, feeling very grateful.
Without Wing I'd have died that day, Rowan thought sleepily. And I never knew where she went after that. I fell asleep, and by dawn, she was gone.
What did she mean? he wondered suddenly. By, 'your boss should be familiar with me'? She never met Giovanni, did she? Never when she was with me, and that was the only time she was involved enough with Skyler business to get near the organisation.
Where does Wing go, every time she needs to escape? She's done it so many times, and we've never found her.
No one has.
And that's what really makes her dangerous.
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Twin2: You know, I meant to update weeks ago. Oops. This is what happens when my twin vanishes into Poland so that I can't hear her voice for a month. I stop being the temperamental author you all know and love and sort of… lose momentum. You're lucky this is up at all, really. I've been acting emo for two weeks. (No offence to any actual emos out there. But I'm being serious. By now I would have usually had four rants, and instead I'm vaguely wandering around the room, typing in between laps. I miss my sister!)
Now, just because Twin1 would want me to say it: REVIEW!