Chapter Twelve: Max

"Nope. Not up here either," Max said as he finished his circuit around the base of the tree, leaning against the strong north wind to keep from being blown off the hilltop. "With the wind gusting like this, I wouldn't be surprised if that nidoran's wood sculpture blew away… But I guess I've just got to keep on looking."

He took a running start, then jumped off of the south side of the hill, wings flapping frantically as he tried to use the wind and height to aid his ongoing attempts at flight. His wings did an admirable job of catching the wind, and he managed to stay airborne for ten seconds before landing ungracefully on the steep slope of the hill below him.

He sighed, too used to his failure at flying to care too much. "At least this mission is finally giving me a chance to have some time to myself… Heh, never thought I'd be happy for the bore of a solo mission."

Enjoying the relative silence of Treetopped Hills, he slowly walked down the hill and continued onto the next one. He still loved hanging out with everyone at the guild, of course, but ever since everyone had found out he was human, he'd rarely had a moment to himself. Everyone wanted him to try to help them evolve, or tell them what it'd been like to be human… Neither of which he could really do. He had no idea if he'd actually made those pokémon evolve, and if he really had, he had no idea how he'd done it. And with only one far-from-average day of his life in his mind as a complete memory, he couldn't say much about what it was like to be human.

He reached the top of the next hill and circled the tree that stood tall and proud at the center of its crest. According to the nidoran's directions, he was in the right area to find the tree with the hollow that held the forgotten carving; he just had to find the right tree. As before, there was no hollow in this tree.

Yet again, he launched himself off the top of the hill to practice his flying. He imagined that maybe he'd gone a little farther with that leap. But for the most part, it was still just that: a leap. No matter how hard he tried, his wings just couldn't manage much of anything that resembled flight.

"Hey there! Want some pointers?" a loud feminine voice called out from above, interrupting Max's peace and quiet. Not that he minded much. As much as he liked the quiet, he still liked company more. Curious, he looked up and caught sight of a pidgey right as the little bird landed lightly on his upraised beak.

Trying his best not to move his upper beak, he replied, "You mean pointers for my flying? I don't think you'll be able to help much. I've asked for help from others before, but it seems that archen wings just aren't made for flying."

"Ah, but that's where you're wrong," the pidgey chirped. "Wings are inherently made for flying, whether they're archen wings or pidgey wings! Here, why don't you take off again, and I'll see where I can help." She hopped down from his beak and landed on the hillside next to him, watching expectantly.

Can't hurt to show her, I guess. He opened his wings, pushed off with his powerful legs, and flapped as hard as he could, managing to stay at the top of his arc of movement for only a few seconds before he fell back to the ground.

He got back up and turned to the pidgey, ruffling his head feathers embarrassedly. "So? What do you make of that?"

"Hm… Well, maybe you really are just groundbound," the pidgey said. "Still, I bet I could at least double your air time. For one, you're not spreading your feathers to the fullest."

Max looked down at a wing and stretched. "I'm not? Are you sure? I don't think you've ever been an archen, so I don't see how-"

Ignoring him, the pidgey hopped forward, propped his wing on her own, then bit down with her beak on his outermost flight feathers and pulled. To Max's surprise, he felt a muscle flexing that he hadn't really noticed before, nonetheless used. Up until now, he'd taken his two wing claws to be the only real parallels to hands he had in terms of anatomy, and he hadn't experimented much more with them since figuring out the basics of his movement; now, he realized that whatever this pidgey was pulling allowed his blue flight feathers to pivot somewhat, lengthening the span of his wings.

"Wow. How'd you realize that?" Max asked. And it's my body… How'd I not realize it? Guess I'm too stuck on moving like a human as much as possible, even now.

"Intuition," the pidgey said haughtily. "Your wings ought to be the same as mine, I figured, even if they're not made for any sort of great flying. You just looked out of whack flapping them with those blue feathers of yours trailing behind like useless streamers."

Max flexed the newfound muscle and, thinking he had the hang of it, he leapt up again. To his joy, he found that the pidgey hadn't been lying; it did nearly double his time in the air, not necessarily increasing his height at all but allowing him to fly farther.

The pidgey puffed out her feathers. "What'd I tell you? Who's the best flyer ever?"

"Uh… You?" Max guessed, even though his performance had more to do with her tips than her flying.

"Got that right, bud," she said. "I've been told I'm an absolute natural everywhere I go, and I've been travelling around a lot, so by everywhere I go, I actually mean everywhere. Now, try it again, but cup your feathers more this time. It's not what I'd normally suggest, but you're so much of a land bird that you need to catch as much air as you can."

Max did as he was told. Though he had a bit more trouble getting this tip down perfectly, he found that it did help a bit, if only marginally. By now, though, he was at the bottom of the hill where he couldn't do much more practice without climbing up the hillside again.

"I'm Alexa, by the way," the pidgey said as she flew down to join him. "Ace flyer and well-traveled pidgey extraordinaire. You?"

"I'm Max. And thanks so much for the help," Max said sincerely, still somewhat in awe of how easily a couple pointers from this bird had helped him. "I've been trying to improve for a couple months now. You-"

"Hold up, there," Alexa interrupted him. "Max? The archen? You wouldn't- No, of course you are! Gosh, I'm stupid. Except not really, since I'm way too awesome to be stupid. Guess I got too caught up in your atrocious flying to notice who I'd found! You're Max the human, right?"

Normally Max would've gotten a bit sour right there, since he didn't much like people only caring about him because he was human. But considering how much Alexa had helped, he responded happily, "Yup, that's me! Were you looking for me?"

The pidgey flapped her wings excitedly. "You bet! I actually went by the guild first, and they told me I could find you out here in this place, and so I came here, and here you are! This is great! Ever since I heard about you – well, just trust me, I've been excited to talk to you!"

"Did you need to ask me about something?" Max questioned, confused by her enthusiasm; most other pokémon he spoke to weren't this psyched about meeting a human-turned-pokémon, even when they for sure believed it wasn't all an elaborate prank.

"Oh, yeah! First off, let me tell you that I'm actually a human, too!" Alexa said. "'Course, most pokémon think I'm crazy when I tell 'em that, and your guild did, too, but it's true!"

As much as Max could sympathize – quite a few pokémon still didn't believe that he himself was a pokémon, after all – he found himself a bit skeptical. "Not meaning to not believe you, but… Can you prove it? Do you remember anything you could tell me so I know for sure?"

"Sure, not a problem," Alexa said. "Firstly, I didn't have wings at all, which I now realize was quite a let down. Had hands, legs, skin… All that good stuff. Did you know pokémon here don't even know what we humans looked like? Anyway, I don't really remember anything that wasn't directly mentioned or thought of in my last day as a human… Or I guess it was my last day, at least. But I do know I lived in Unova, in Lacunosa Town. It was the crazy place surrounded by walls with no one willing to go outside at night."

Max's eyes widened as he realized that the only possible way she could know this would be if she was telling the truth. "No way! So you're not lying?"

"Of course not! Why would I make up something like that?" she asked. "I'm human! Or, at least, I was. Can't say I really wanna go back, seeing as I can't fly there! Too bad that you're a bird here and can't even fly… Maybe when you evolve, huh? I hear you're good at making pokémon evolve, so maybe you'll be able to, and then you'll be an archeops soaring across the sky! Anyway, where're you from? In our original world, I mean."

"Castelia City. But… Well, wow!" Max said, for once in his life struck speechless. After a moment, he continued, "I can't believe there's actually another human here! Do you have any idea how we got here? I can only remember one day of my life clearly, but I know it wasn't the last day I was there, so I don't know how all this happened."

The pidgey shrugged, which Max now saw looked just as odd as it usually felt for him, being a human in a bird's body. "I don't really know," Alexa said.

Max scowled. "But you said you remembered your last day there in our world, right? Why do you say it was your last day?"

She shrugged again, looking off at the nearest tree as its branches swayed wildly in the north wind that was chilly even on this sunny spring afternoon. "I dunno. It just felt like my last day, you know?"

The archen got the feeling that Alexa was avoiding the truth, but he decided not to press the matter. After all, he was still ecstatic that he'd even found another human at all. Maybe I should've revealed I was human sooner after waking up in this world… What if more humans show up now that the news is out about me? That'd be great! Maybe we could figure something out!

"Anyway, I'm not just here to chat!" Alexa said hastily, changing the topic. "I was wondering if you'd met any other humans here."

Max shook his head. "You're the first," Max said. "Up until now, I was just living my pokémon life, figuring I was alone and stuck here. If you don't mind me asking, do you really not want to go back?"

"Nope, I love being a pidgey too much!" Alexa insisted, emphasizing her point by opening her wings and taking a quick flight around Max. "Flight's totally my style, and it'd take a lot to make me want to give it up. Boring human life certainly isn't enough motivation! 'Course, you being not able to really fly, I can understand if you don't understand."

Max thought about it for a minute and realized that, honestly, he wasn't that anxious to get home. "I don't know. I do kind of like being a pokémon. I've made a lot of friends here, too, and I feel like I'm doing at least some good, when all I did was mess up as a human."

The pidgey let out a little chirrup of curiosity. "Mess up? Did you screw something up on the only day you can remember?"

"Uh… yeah. Pretty badly," he said, picking at the ground with his talons. "If I'd just done things differently…"

"What things?" Alexa asked when he trailed off.

Max shook his head. "I'm not telling unless you tell me about your last day."

Alexa puffed her chest feathers out indignantly. "Who said I wasn't telling? It was a boring day. That's it. A Saturday. Sunny. I hung out with friends, we went to a movie, had dinner at the food court in the mall, got some frozen yogurt at Berry Leaf... Man, that was good fro yo, that was. I'd almost go back to being a human just for that. But anyway, that's it for my last day. So, your story?"

Max still thought she was hiding something, so he felt rather justified when he said, "Sorry, but I'd really rather not talk about it. I will tell you that it was bad enough that when I showed up here, I thought that maybe I was here to make up for it. You know, like karmic rebirth or something."

Alexa looked a little annoyed at first, but she grudgingly accepted his refusal to talk. Perhaps she doesn't mind because she feels guilty that she isn't telling her whole story, too, Max thought.

There was an awkward pause. Eventually, Max suggested, "Well, I'm looking for a pokémon's old den at the base of one of these trees. He left a sculpture here that he wants back. Wanna keep talking as I keep looking?"

"And you're doing that walking?" she asked. "Psh. Let me speed things up!" she promptly took off and flew to the nearest tree; apparently not finding anything there, she continued to the next tree, and the one after that.

Max didn't protest her offer for help as he trekked up another unchecked hill to continue with the search, slow in comparison though he was. And since the work was far from mentally taxing, he let his mind wander.

I can't believe there's actually someone else here like me! So does that mean I'm not here to try to be brave, and make up for my mistakes? Hmm… No, she's still not saying something. What would she be trying to hide? Did she do something similar? She doesn't strike me as the kind of person to just let someone die, like I did… Then again, I probably don't come across like that, either. At least, I hope I don't.

The first hill he checked turned out fruitless. He started off to the next.

Still, this is incredible. Another human! Why are we here, really? I still think I need to use this opportunity to make up for my mistakes… But what if that's not the real reason I ended up here? Surely someone knows something about how we both wound up as pokémon in a world that doesn't even have humans. Didn't Alexa say-

"Found it!" Alexa said as she flew back, navigating the near calmer air between the hills as she carried the wood carving of a female nidoran in her talons.

Max caught the carving in his outstretched, almost arm-like wings. "Thanks," he said as the pidgey once again landed next to him. "Makes me wish I could fly… It'd certainly speed up missions like this. But oh well. Maybe I'll get my chance someday. Anyway, I was thinking about what you said earlier. You asked me if I'd met any other humans. Do you know for sure if there are more? Have you met any others?"

"Yep, I know of at least one more for sure!" Alexa chirruped. "I mean, I haven't seen him since I came here, but he was with me on that last day as a human, so I'm sure he wound up here just like I did. If you ever meet someone named Cecil, tell him Alexa is looking for him."

"How can you be sure he ended up here, too?"

Alexa tapped her beak with a wing knowingly. "Same way I'm such a good flier: intuition! He's here, I know it. I just haven't found him yet."

A huge gust of wind suddenly blew into the valley where the two birds were conversing, hitting them like a physical blow and knocking both of them to the ground.

As Max and Alexa got back to their feet, bracing themselves against the hurricane-like wind, they looked up to the sky and saw ominous clouds gathering where, previously, there'd been none in the dimming evening sky.

"Huh. Weird weather," Max said.

"What?" Alexa yelled back to him, unable to hear him over the roar of the wind as it continued to blow strongly through the hills.

"Weird weather!" Max repeated.

This time, Alexa nodded. "I don't like it! It's coming too fast – we should find shelter!"

"Where was the den?" the archen asked, thinking to himself that shelter was indeed a very good idea. The low clouds were already a solid ceiling that seemed supported by the swaying trees of the hilltops. Soon, even the reddish hue lent to the land by the soon-to-be-setting sun would disappear, leaving them in darkness.

"The den was this way!" she said as she took off. But before she could get even a foot in the air, her light body was tossed about by the wind, rendering her efforts to control her direction useless. She hit the ground with a pained chirp as the wind continued to drag her.

Max rushed over to her and caught one of her talons in his beak before her still spread wings could catch the air again get her caught back up in the turbulence. After a moment where she still seemed dazed, she got a hold of herself enough to close her wings.

Max let go of her leg. "You okay?" he asked.

She nodded, though she seemed more rattled than she wanted to admit. "Come on. I'll just have to foot it, same as you," she said before hopping off, staying as low to the ground as possible. Max followed wordlessly, easily keeping up now that the pidgey was on foot. As he followed, he kept an eye on the sky grew darker and darker and the winds picked up even more.

A rumble of thunder suddenly shook the sky, shaking them to their bones. Except it wasn't thunder. Not exactly. There was no lightning for it to have come from, and even aside from that, it sounded more like a prolonged roar of the wind as it moved among the hills.

Max turned towards the sounds and saw a cloud descending towards them with a speed and solidness that made the archen know that it was more than it seemed.

"Duck!" he shouted, catching the smaller bird under his wing and sending both her and himself crashing to the ground. He acted not a moment too soon. As the cloud darted just above them, he saw a hand that was bigger than his whole body stretch from the side of the cloud, and he glimpsed the cold, yellow gaze of some massive pokémon as it glared at them.

The pokémon continued on, carried forward by its colossal momentum. But Max could see it slowing down, and didn't doubt that it'd be coming back again for another try.

"What was THAT?" Alexa asked as the two of them hurriedly got up.

Monster though it was, Max recognized it, both thanks to his myths from his world and the few he'd heard of this world. "It's Tornadus," he replied. "And he's coming back. Run!"

Without waiting to see if Alexa would listen, Max obeyed his own advice and ran the other way, keeping at the bases of the hills where he hoped that it'd be most difficult for the larger, airborne pokémon to reach him.

"Hey, wait for me!" Alexa shouted from somewhere behind him. "Wait for-"

A surprised scream rent the air, and Max momentarily turned to see that Alexa had unconsciously opened her wings in her haste, causing her to be caught up once again in the maelstrom that danced between the hills.

Max skidded to a stop and began to head back, but he hadn't gone far when he caught sight of Tornadus barreling forward, straight for Alexa.

Max had one moment of indecision when he looked back and forth from the helpless pidgey to the flying monster with the glowing yellow eyes.

I'm sorry, Alexa!

He turned and ran once again, almost without thinking about it.

There's nothing I could've done! he thought as he heard the pidgey's shriek cut through the wind, presumably as she was captured. Even if I could've made my wings work well enough to catch you in the air, I couldn't have fought him off. I'm probably next, anyway! Oh, dear Arceus, what am I going to do?

He took another glance back. He could see Alexa in Tornadus's grasp as the monster hurtled forward once again, this time with Max locked in his sights. Max prepared to duck once more, but this time Tornadus was expecting it. He slowed down as he got closer, so that catching Max would be as simple as reaching down and picking up a stone from the ground.

Max panicked. He managed to jump aside as Tornadus bore down on him and, in desperation, he shot off a very weak dragonbreath at the outstretched hand. Tornadus withdrew his hand momentarily on instinct, giving Max a chance to run away once again.

No no no! Get away from me! Just leave me alone! What did I do? Tears of confusion and fear streamed from his eyes. This was worse even than the fight with that outlaw, Edge. At least with that scyther, he'd known what was happening and he knew he had a chance at survival, even if he couldn't have won. Plus, he'd had Zeke with him. But this was different in so many ways.

Tornadus isn't even supposed to be here! That very first day, that oddish said something about him. Tornadus and Thundorus and Landorus – they all supposedly disappeared! And before that, they were supposed to be good! Why's he coming after me, then? Why why why why-

He squawked as the massive hand grabbed him by the tail and he felt himself yanked into the air. In a moment, he felt himself being blown almost straight sideways as the legendary pokémon picked up speed and height, flying above even the tallest of the hilltop trees.

"Let us go, you big oaf!" Alexa was shouting; only her head showed above the pokémon's massive fist. "I can barely breathe in here! Max, you're mostly free – do something! Attack!"

For a moment or two, Max was almost too scared to move as he was buffeted by the wind. But eventually, his own desperation kicked in. He didn't think, or plan. He mindlessly attacked with his wings, hitting at the hand that gripped his tail.

The hand didn't falter.

"Come on, Max! Is that the best you've got?" Alexa shouted out. "What sort of guild pokémon are you?"

"I don't see you doing anything!" Max shouted as he continued to hit at the hand, his voice high and cracking with fear.

"I'm a flier, not much of a battler!" Alexa defended. "I can't do much unless I can get in to the air! Come on, Max, you gotta be able to do more than just hit him!"

Max tried to calm himself and, after he was as close as he could get to his prime mindset, he let out a dragonbreath. But it was a complete failure. He felt terrified and helpless, not majestic and strong; the weak puff of purple flame that did manage to come from his beak ended up just blowing back into his face.

More tears came from his eyes, thanks both to his fear and shame.

"Come on! That all you got?" Alexa egged him on, though her own voice was beginning to convey the fear she'd held back until now. "You said you're here 'cuz of karma, right? Then hurry up and make up for whatever it was you did as a human! Save the both of us, for Arceus's sake!"

"I can't, all right!" he shouted. He was angry and frightened and ashamed, and he just wanted it all to go away. He wanted to be back with Zeke at the guild, or back in Unova with his family, with the little sister he'd never see again, or-

"Tornadus, why are you doing this?" the archen shouted out in desperation as he saw Treetopped Hills receding in the distance behind them. At this speed, Tornadus could take them to wherever he wanted in no time; the thought terrified Max. He continued to shout, "Why? You're supposed to keep the weather in balance, not use it to attack helpless pokémon! Even though you've been gone for longer than anyone can remember, I've only ever heard about how good of a pokémon you are! So why are you doing this to us?"

As Max spoke, he felt a deeper feeling rise up inside him, one that – though perhaps not as grand as the sensation of his dragonbreath – was just as powerful. It felt as if generations of pokémon before him sympathized with his plight and knew that something was wrong. It was as if they knew that there was no reason that any pokémon should attack another like this, and there was definitely no reason why one of the legendary pokémon responsible for keeping the world in balance should do such a thing. Max recognized the power as the first attack he'd ever used, and one that he'd utilized many times since then. It crept outward from his bones, filling every bit of skin and muscles and scale and feather until, finally, he could take it no longer.

"Let us GO, Tornadus!"

He released the burst of ancient energy from his body, this time aiming his attack not at the hand that held him, but rather at the face that was staring ahead with almost trancelike blankness.

And this time, Max's attack did its job.

Tornadus roared in pain and dropped in the sky, not seriously injured by any means but in pain all the same. He kept his grip on his captives despite his pain, though, and managed to arrest his fall just before hitting the ground.

Though he had caught himself, the effects of the attack were still being felt. As Max looked up at him, the godlike pokémon seemed almost disoriented as he looked at the two pokémon in his hands in confusion.

In a deep voice, he said, "What…?"

"Let us down already!" Alexa shouted out, apparently encouraged by his confusion.

To Max's surprise, Tornadus listened. He lowered himself even closer to the ground and carefully dropped the two birds. The winds calmed for a moment, and there was silence as Alexa and Max watched him and he, in turn, watched them.

Then, the legendary pokémon suddenly seized up and roared, clutching his hands to his chest as if he were trying to dig in and rip out his own heart. Alexa and Max both squawked and prepared to run again, but Tornadus had apparently forgotten about them. The winds picked up with more force than ever, blowing both birds away from the god of wind as he took off, his roar of pain receding with the winds until, eventually, both wind and roar died down to nothing and the two pokémon were left in the overcast night.

The two looked at each other. Both were a mess, with feathers broken and out of place. But neither cared much about their appearances at that moment.

"Well, what the heck was that all about?" Alexa asked. "Oh, and thanks for just leaving me behind, by the way!"

Max bowed his head. "Sorry. I just- I couldn't help it. I was terrified. Sorry. I'm… I'm just sorry. I can't-"

"Ah, don't freak out about it," Alexa said as she smoothed some feathers. "I don't blame you, really… That thing was terrifying. And you couldn't have really done anything." She paused and then continued, "Actually, I take that back. You could do something. You did do something. What exactly did you do?"

"You're guess is as good as mine," Max said as he calmed himself, the adrenaline finally beginning to leave his system. "It was an ancientpower attack, and a stronger one than I've ever been able to do before… But it wasn't enough to really hurt a pokémon like that. Not too much. And it doesn't confuse pokémon, so there's no reason… Really, I don't know. Why did he come after us in the first place?"

"Beats me." Then, ruffling her feathers, she said, "Can we get to somewhere less… Exposed? I don't exactly feel safe here anymore."

Max nodded as he looked up at the sky, half expecting for the wind to pick back up and Tornadus to return. For a moment, the clouds parted and Max thought he saw a flash of colors darting in the atmosphere above, perhaps like an aurora; but then the clouds closed again, leaving him and Alexa in the dark once again. "Agreed," he said after a moment's thought. "Let's head back to the guild. There's no place I'd feel safer if Tornadus decides to come back for another round."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"So, let me see if I've got this straight," Guildmaster Braviary said as he looked at Max and Alexa. "THE Tornadus – who no one has seen in so long that almost everyone thinks that he's a myth – showed up out of nowhere, grabbed you, and would've made off with you if you hadn't fought back?"

Both Max and Alexa nodded, bold in their assertion even though the entire guild was gathered around them, looking at them with scrutiny. Upon hearing the basics of Max's story, both guildmasters had decided that an immediate all-guild meeting was needed to sort out this issue, even though most pokémon had been asleep by the time Max and Alexa had made it back.

Suddenly, Fum the abra appeared right next to Max. "Guildmaster, I'm just getting word from Fo and Fee! Sounds like something similar happened there – Landorus appeared and caused an earthquake and a tidal wave, though he didn't go after anyone in particular."

The entire guild suddenly broke out into a babble of speculation; only when Guildmaster Mandibuzz raised her wings did the pokémon silence themselves.

Content that they were behaving themselves again, she lowered her wings again and said, "And you're a human, too, Alexa?"

Alexa flapped her wings indignantly. "That's what I tried to tell you all when I came here earlier today, but everyone laughed in my face! It's true!"

Mandibuzz nodded her head placatingly. "If no one believed you before, I don't doubt that they believe you now. You two being human – it has to be the reason he came after you."

"But why?" Fum said, speaking up for nearly every pokémon in the room. "Tornadus and Landorus are both supposed to be good pokémon. That's what all the legends say. Why would they attack anyone? Fi thinks that maybe it's because humans aren't supposed to be here, but-"

"No, there's something more wrong here," Mandibuzz said. "Don't you think so, dear?"

"Absolutely!" Guildmaster Braviary said. "If Tornadus and Landorus are attacking anyone and everyone, something's definitely wrong with them! Nothing justifies that!"

"And how you described him, Max…" Mandibuzz continued. "You said it was like he was in a trance?"

Max nodded. "It's hard to say, but once he caught us, he didn't even look at us even while we were attacking. And he only said one word, and that was when he was confused."

"I suspect that something is wrong with him, then, as much as I hate to say it," Mandibuzz said. "Dear? I think you know what we'll need to do."

"Right-o! Listen up, Guild!" he cawed out in his raucous voice. "Our number one priority is catching Tornadus or Landorus or even Thundurus, if he ends up showing his face! We need to figure out what's going on with them!"

"But for your own safety, please don't attempt to confront any of them alone!" Mandibuzz added as the guild broke into enthusiastic cheers, most of them quite excited for the challenge. "We will only permit highly ranked groups of four or more to go on any missions after him! Please be on the ready – all three of them are legends for a reason."

The guild once again broke into loud conversation as pokémon turned to one another, no doubt already planning their teams for the search. Other pokémon – those who were weaker, or who didn't want to put in as much effort – began to slink out of the main meeting space, no doubt so that they could get back to sleep.

This time, Mandibuzz let the noise persist; she and Braviary had said all they needed to. However, she did lean down to Alexa and Max and say, "This is just a theory, but I think perhaps what you said to Tornadus somehow managed to get through to the real him. That's why he let you go. Or maybe it was because you're human that you were able to get through to him. It may turn out that you two are the only ones who will be able to help him, if we do manage to find him.

"That being said, I must insist that you two stay at the guild or, at the very least, that you only leave when accompanied by stronger pokémon. You might be our only hope for finding out what really is the matter. And more to the point… If anything happened to you two, I'd blame myself."

Max suddenly felt a heavy paw ruffling his head feather's and heard Zeke's voice as the luxray said, "I'll make sure to keep an eye on 'em. If you don't mind, Max."

"Thanks," Max said, glad for the stronger pokémon's support.

"Woah, wait a minute," Alexa said. "Cool as this place is, I'm not getting cooped up here! I'll just have to be a bit more careful from now on. But I've got someone I'm looking for, so unless there's someone named Cecil here, I've got no reason to stick around. Besides, I couldn't do anything to make that jerk drop me, so I won't be able to help you if you find him. Max seems to have that area of expertise covered."

The mandibuzz looked at the tiny pidgey with concern. "Are you certain that-"

"Yeah, I am," Alexa said. "I'll stay the night, but I'll be off again in the morning. Thanks for the offer, but I fly solo!"

Mandibuzz sighed. "If you're sure… Well, I bid you a good night, then, and I hope you know that any and all of the guilds would welcome you with open wings, if you need protection."

With that, both Mandibuzz and her mate headed back to their own room.

Alexa and Max exchanged a glance. "Well… Um, thanks for the flight training?" Max said, not sure what exactly was appropriate to say at this time. His mind was more preoccupied with the possibility of that monster ever coming back.

"Yeah, you bet!" Alexa said, nowhere near so tongue-tied. "Anyway, I'm gonna hit the hay for tonight. Really, even if you don't know how you did it, thanks for saving me and all. And make sure you let me know if you ever run across Cecil!"

With that, she flew up to one of the branches in the ceiling, apparently making herself at home right there, despite the fact that there were plenty of vacant rooms available should she have asked for one.

"I'll be heading to bed, too," Zeke said. "Don't let things worry you too much. Everyone likes you too much to let some pokémon mess with you, legend though he might be."

"Thanks," Max said, appreciating the thought. "G'night."

But when he left Zeke and began to walk up through the tree to his room, he was less than confident.

I'm not sure if even the guildmasters could stand up against Tornadus… He was just too powerful. Even the entire guild might not be enough protection. Maybe I should… No, running wouldn't solve anything. If he could find Alexa and I today, maybe he can find us no matter where we are. It was a miracle that we escaped today.

That thought struck him as significant. I can make pokémon evolve when no one's evolved in years… And I managed to get through to Tornadus, maybe. I managed to do something, at least. Maybe this has something to do with why I'm here? Why I ended up like this? Maybe… Maybe this is just what I need!

He was still terrified, of course, but hope was now surging through his veins as well, balancing it.

Next time Tornadus shows his face… I'll be ready. I don't know how, but I'll fix whatever's wrong with him, and I'll help everyone figure out why he disappeared for so long. I swear I'll finally do some good instead of running away!

Hey, the chapter is actually on time for once! ^_^ Yay for spring break, even though I'm not getting as much done as I could be... Oh well. Darn Nuzlocke challenge taking up my time! But it's good creative practice, I suppose, since I'm making a story in my head to go along with it. Just for my own benefit. Maybe I'll do a Nuzlocke fic someday...? I've considered it on several occasions. Might be fun. :)

Anyway, please review! And as always, I hope you're enjoying it! Next chapter we'll be getting off the pattern of the story so far, and after that, we'll finally be seeing all the main characters together. I'm still not entirely sure if I'll be able to make it work smoothly, but I'll give it my best shot and hope it turns out well.