A flash of purple, a gust of wind, a glint of bright white teeth, an ear piercing screech, a cry of pain, a cheer of success, a moan of loss. Joe cheered his Pokémon on as the battle finally came to a screeching halt. The trainer gave up and withdrew their Pokémon, handing Joe his winning money. Joe and Ralph high fived. That was their fifth victory that morning and Joe was beginning to worry that they were getting too good. Ralph had decided that he would stay. He would not leave his friends side simply because some random Golbat told him that Joe would betray him. Looking into his trainers eyes he could see it clear as day. Joe cared the world about him. He would never try to hurt him. In a way they were both misunderstood wanderers. Joe was young but much stronger then he seemed, both in body and spirit, while Ralph was not an attractive sight but he way strong, brave and loyal to his friends while being the worst nightmare to his enemies.
"Alright, Ralph." Joe cheered. That's number five already. We're nearing our personal best again." He patted Ralph on the shoulder. "You're doing great." He encouraged him. Ralph smiled back. He felt grateful to have a friend like Joe. Winter joined them now. She, Rocky and Tom had been looking through the woods area of the route, helping Tom with his pokedex. It had felt like so long ago since Joe left Pallet town. He had completely forgotten about his promise to Professor Oak in filling up the pokedex. Tom seemed to be doing a good job with it anyway so it probably wouldn't matter too much what his pokedex registered.
"How's it going?" She asked, casually looking at the small red device Joe gripped in his hands. He glanced at her from the side.
"It's going well." He told her. "Five trainers beaten already. Two more and we'll have a new record." Winter smiled.
"That's awesome." She told him. "You've really gotten back onto your feet." She encouraged. Joe smiled back.
"Thanks." He said, gratefully. It had been hard on him loosing Sting like he had. But time had found a way of healing. Although the scar would never heal the original shock had seemed too worn away. Some doubt still nagged at the back of his head, however. A doubt that he could succeed.
"What happened last night, by the way?" Winter asked, taking Joe by surprise.
"Huh?" He asked unconsciously, glancing back at her.
"I asked what you were shouting about last night." Winter repeated. "You woke us all up. What was wrong? Bad dreams?" She asked.
"It's nothing." Joe insisted, yet his face didn't agree. He had the look of someone suffering with their thoughts.
"It can't be nothing." Winter argued, still sounding kind as she did so. Joe sighed. He didn't know whether he should tell his friends about the dream he had been having. What if it was nothing and they were all getting worried about it. But worse… what if it was true, but no one believed him. "You said 'Uncle'." Winter continued. Joe stopped, his breath holding and his body tensing. The word floated around in the air before him. There was no way he was going to lie about this now, not if she'd heard what he had said.
"I'll tell you later." He promised. "Once Tom's left and Rocky's asleep I'll tell you tonight."
Rocky arrived now, his faithful Machop, Chopper, following alongside him. Behind them came Tom, Joe's oldest friend and companion. All three of them were looking very happy.
"Any luck?" Joe asked, noticing them turning up, large grins on their faces. They all nodded their heads, vigorously.
"Lots." Tom told him. "I found a flock of Doduo living nearby and caught one for the pokedex. I also found a small family of Mankey living not too far away and added some extra data on them into the Dex." Dex was a slang term for pokedex. It was what Tom called it.
"I also got to train Chopper and Mina." Rocky added. He too was excited.
"Nice work." Winter told them.
"While we were out doing that I had a thought." Tom told them all. "Why don't we all have a Sky Race?" They looked at him.
"What's a Sky Race?" Joe asked. Tom looked back at them all. Even Ralph seemed confused, and that rarely happened.
"Surely you all know what a Sky Race is." Tom told them. He saw their vacant faces and noted that clearly they didn't know what a Sky Race was.
"We don't. What's a Sky Race?" Rocky asked him. Tom loosened up a little.
"A Sky Race is a race from one city to another using only flying Pokémon." He explained. "The trainer rides on that Pokémon all the way to the city and the first one to land successfully in the city centre wins. I picked up the idea from Pokémon Battle Arena, the TV show. They did something similar on that."
"I think we may have a problem with that." Winter interrupted. "Rocky and I don't have any flying type Pokémon. How are we meant to compete?" She asked. Tom thought for a second. "Me and Joe will have to have the race then." He decided. "I can get Kadabra to teleport you to Fuchsia to wait for us if you want." He told them. Rocky and Winter looked to each other.
"We would have liked to have had a race with you…" She explained. "But seeing as how neither of us has a flying type Pokémon we can't take part. We'll be ok with making our way to Fuchsia city." She told him. Rocky nodded in agreement.
"If you're sure that's ok." Tom continued. Winter and Rocky nodded.
"It's fine." Rocky told him. "We'll be fine waiting for you." Tom shrugged.
"Ok then." He declared, simply. He turned back to Joe. "So, you want to have a race? "He asked him. Joe looked a little frightened now, glancing at the sky nervously every few seconds.
"So I'd have to… to…" He gulped, actual nervousness appearing on his face. It was the same fear his friends had seen in Viridian forest when he had tried to rescue Sting as a Kakuna from a Spearow nest. During that day he had fallen from the tree and almost severely injured himself had Ralph not stopped his fall. He pointed up into the sky. Tom gave him a kindly smile.
"Oh don't worry." Tom told him. "I've done this before with Fearow. You'll enjoy it. Feeling the wind on your face, flowing through your hear. Bliss!" He raised his hands open to the air. Joe looked to his bat friend. Ralph gave him an unsure look. This would be a first time flying so high for him, too.
"Tom I don't think I can do this." Joe told him, the hint of panic growing rapidly in his voice. "What if I slip and fall. I'll end up a human pancake." Tom chuckled.
"Don't worry, my friend. Ralph will keep you safe up there." He gestured to Ralph who stood beside Joe. Ralph did his best to look confident. He wanted to keep his friend calm and not discourage him but he worried if he could take his weight. Crobat's were not exactly the strongest of flying types.
"Tom, I just can't." Joe tried to say but his words stumbled. He knew that Tom understood his fear of height but it was tough for him to even say it to himself. His brain forced his mouth shut. Tom watched his friend struggle with his emotional pain. "I really just can't. It's too much." Joe continued, gesturing his hands desperately.
"What's the matter?" Rocky asked him. He was the only one of them that didn't know about Joe's fear of heights. Winter stood up for him.
"Joe has a phobia of heights." She explained, quietly but hardly subtly. Rocky looked to Joe a little surprised then nodded understanding.
"Ah, right." He said. "That's actually a surprise. I never thought that would be something you feared, especially with Ralph being your Pokémon." Winter nudged him in the chest and he coughed. "Sorry." He added. Tom nodded.
"Alright." He sighed. "Would it make you feel safer if I said I could give you some tools that would help you fly?" Tom asked. Joe looked back up at him, confused.
"What do you mean tools?" He asked.
"I mean attach a safety line around Ralph and yourself and teach him the HM Fly so he'll be able to carry you." Tom explained. Joe seemed encouraged by this.
"Do you have all that?" He asked. Tom smiled.
"It won't take a second."
A couple of minutes later and Ralph was all set up. He had a long Elastic harness wrapped around his stomach and wing joints that was attached with three separate climbing hooks around Joe's belt. Joe had been given a couple of straps to wear around his body which the three hooks had been clipped to and a set of Aviator goggles to wear on his face. Currently it sat on top of his red and white hat. He looked at his new gear, then back up at his friends.
"Where did you get all this stuff?" He asked Tom who also wore the same equipment as him. Tom tapped his nose.
"The right people." He told him. "I got the equipment from a gym leader I pumped into from Hoenn. She gave me the equipment I deed to fly a Pokémon for the first time and taught my Fearow Fly. Now I can teach Ralph Fly as well." He grabbed his Fearow's neck and pulled himself up onto its back, using the edge of its lowered wing to boost himself up. Fearow was not hurt by this. He sat on its shoulders, his legs tapping the joint of its neck. It cawed calmly, announcing its readiness. Tom patted it and stroked its neck. Joe walked up to Ralph. He seemed very nervous about what he was about to try doing."We'll just get into the air first." Tom told him. "Don't panic and you'll be fine." He coughed. "I'd say don't look down but, trust me, that's impossible." Joe smiled, sarcastically. He wished Tom hadn't said that. It wasn't exactly an encouraging comment. He lifted his left leg up over Ralph's wing and slowly, carefully sat down on his smooth purple back. Ralph dropped down a little, struggling to carry Joe's weight on his body. Joe patted his side, comforting him.
"It's ok, Ralph." He whispered. "We'll do this together." He adjusted his weight and tried to make Ralph more comfortable with him on his back. He glanced over to Tom. "I don't think this is going to work." He told him, the panic still hinted in his voice. Tom nodded encouragingly.
"You can do it." He encouraged him. "Just tell him to Fly in the direction you want and he'll be able to do it." Tom explained.
"How exactly does that work?" Joe asked him. "He can hardly take my weight. He'll never get up into the air." Tom waved a hand, calmly.
"It's a weird science." He began to explain. "Now that I've taught him the HM Fly he can use it if you command him to, even if you're on his back. She explained it all to me. All you do is say 'Fly' then the direction you want to go say east, north, west, south, forwards, backwards, up, down, etc. and then he will do it. For some reason upon using the command for the move he gains the strength to carry any trainer, no matter what the weight. I don't really understand the science, it might be psychological. This does not affect the amount of physical damage they cause, only the amount of weight they can carry on their backs." He paused for breath. Joe looked vacantly at him, his expression showing absolute non understanding. "Just tell Ralph to 'Fly up', then you'll be in the air like you weigh nothing, soaring against or with the wind" Joe still didn't look to sure but it was worth the try.
"Ok, then." He looked down at Ralph. "Ok." He breathed, calmly. "Ralph, Fly up." The second he finished uttering the words Ralph's eyes widened to black circles. A sudden superior strength awakened inside of him and he shot upwards, straight into the air, the ground quickly disappeared below him.
"WHAAAAAAHH!" Joe screamed as he suddenly shot upwards through the low layer of clouds and up high into the huge blue sky. He closed his eyes and gripped his arms around Ralph's small body. Ralph hardly seemed to be effected by his weight anymore, even though they were roughly the same size and Joe was struggling to stay seated on top of him. Ralph beamed, a large white smile growing across his face as the wind passed over his body and cooled his face, neck and ears. He had never felt such a rush. He had flown before obviously but never this high or this fast. He spun, twirled, dashed and dived, the excitement spurring him on. Joe however was enjoying the experience less. He thudded the Ralph's side with his fist and whispered "Could you stop doing that for now." Ralph nodded obediently and returned to a simple glide in the air. Joe opened his eyes and immediately found himself looking down. He gulped and grabbed tighter. Then he looked up. An awe filled gasp escaped silently from his mouth as he took in for the first time what flying really was. Before him was a new landscape. Not the grassy, hilly, tree filled land of Kanto but the open, blue space of the sky. Clouds in the distance and up close formed multiple various shapes, resembling things he knew, things he didn't know too well and things that he didn't even know could exist. Bellow him was the flat solid land in which gravity was necessary but up in the air he could do anything. He sat up properly now and pulled down his goggles. His jumper flailed behind him, and his harness lashed at his legs. A laugh came from his mouth. Flying was nothing like he had always imagined. He imagined flying to be rough, cold and terrifying but now he was doing it himself it was surprisingly calming. Up here gravity didn't need to exist. He felt like he could do anything. The cold air that was clearly hitting him wasn't even noticeable with the energy of the flight flowing though his blood. He let go of Ralph's chest and held out his arms. The air fluttered past him as though it was nothing.
"This…" He laughed, hardly able to keep his euphoria contained. "This is AMAZING!" He shouted. He punched the air in excitement and Ralph laughed, looking back and seeing his friend so excited. He looked forwards again and dived through a thick cloud pile, leaving their imprint whiffed up behind them. Flying like this was incredible, it was surreal, it was ecstatic, it was gracious, it was impossible yet possible, it was unbelievable… but most of all it was calming. Any fear that Joe had previously had of height seemed to fade away when he flew like this, mounted on the back of a Crobat, soaring off into the unknown sky ahead. Joe sat, air rushing past his face, through his hair, down his spine and through his spirit. This is what it was to be alive. Suddenly Ralph slowed down a little and he began to shake side to side. They had hit a strong gust of cold air and it was causing strong turbulence. Ralph was buffeted slightly by the strong air current. He rocked side to side and bumped up as he was knocked about by the force of incoming air. Joe found his grip slipping from both his hands and legs. He slid about slightly, jolted to the right after being hit by a heavy breeze, and suddenly he was plummeting back down to the ground bellow. He heard Ralph's surprised and concerned cry as he plummeted down, wind roaring through his ears. He screamed out in surprise, his arms flailing in the air as the wind around him caught in his clothing and slowed his descent. He fell backwards out of the sky. Behind him was the world, open and flat like a painting canvas. Both fortunately and unfortunately Joe could not see how far he was up as he fell down backwards. This didn't make him any less fearful, however. He fell onwards, falling faster and faster. Suddenly something stopped his fall. His harness came to the end of its tether. It yanked him up as it stretched out and recoiled, the elastic inside reacting to his weight. Joe hung there in the air for a couple of seconds, still conscious, still moving, the climbing hooks on his belts clattering as they were pulled on by the harness. He laughed, glad he had this equipment.
"Thank you, Tom!" he shouted in delight over the roar of the wind. Ralph looked down and saw he was ok. He called down to him, happily smiling his gladness. Now all he had to worry about was getting back up to Ralph again. Joe grabbed the harness with both hands and began pulling himself back up. It was a tiring hall as Joe had to use all the strength in his arms to pull himself up an inch. He had nowhere to put his feet so he could push himself up so they were left hanging in the air bellow him. When Joe had got high enough he was able to stand one leg on the now loose elastic rope curling bellow him and use that to stand himself up right. "Keep flying forwards." Joe Shouted up to Ralph above. Ralph called back. Slowly Joe began to climb again. After a couple of minutes he finally reached Ralph again. He would not be able to get back up top again but he was stable enough to hang on from below. He grabbed on to Ralph's body strap with his left arm and hung from there, the elastic cord wrapped around his feet. He hung there, stable, his free arm lashing at the air. "I think we should land now" Joe told Ralph. Ralph nodded in agreement and began to descend slowly back to the ground. He turned around and began to fly back the way they had come. After half a minute the path they had been on came into view. Joe could see his friends waiting for him. They waved up at him high up in the sky above them. "Alright Ralph." Joe instructed, patting his side. "Bring us down, gently." Ralph did so. He folded his wings in and descended quickly, getting slowly faster and faster as the ground got closer and closer. "Pull up!" Joe shouted over the roaring air and tugged on Ralph's belt. Ralph pulled his wings back out and held them against the wing, causing him to slow down suddenly to a simple glide. He slowly floated back down to the ground and hovered over it for a couple of seconds. Joe jumped down from his footing bellow Ralph and landed, knees bent, safely on both legs firmly on the ground. Ralph joined his side, needing a short rest from their flight. Joe tumbled about slightly, finding he had lost his balance due to the flight and was currently resting against Ralph to keep himself up. The other three watched him stumbling slightly.
"How was it?" Rocky asked. Joe nodded, full of energy yet still spinning slightly.
"It was incredible!" He laughed after nearly retching as his body got used to still land. He brushed the hair pointing out from his hat back with his sweating fingers. "I have never felt so alive! I fell off at one point but luckily the harness stopped me falling too far." Tom was smiling.
"I told you you'd be fine" He congratulated him.
"What happened to your fear?" Winter asked him. Joe just smiled back.
"It vanished." He admitted. "Just gone. I totally forgot about it." He laughed again. "I think I should give Ralph a rest before we go back up there again. It must be tiring flying like that for a long time." He explained. Ralph nodded in agreement, clearly tired from their high flying trip. Tom understood.
"Ok then." He told them. "We have a quick hours rest then we'll get started."
The time was now 12:45 just gone. Winter and Rocky had set of at least 55 minutes prior in order to be not too far away from Fuchsia city by the time Joe and Tom would reach it. At this point they were most likely half way and walking down the last third of the cycle path. Tom and Joe both sat ready on their flying Pokémon. Tom was perched on his Fearow while Joe had set himself on Ralph's shoulders. Sitting on Joe's shoulders was his small friendly Pikachu, Pippy, while with Tom was his courageous companion, Wartortle. Tom had already explained the rules of the race.
"Ok." He had said. "Here are the rules. Each trainer may use only one Pokémon to fly on. The ridden Pokémon may not attack the opponent either physically or with special attacks. Also the trainer must have one other, small Pokémon to ride with them and attack for their flying Pokémon. They trainer may not switch out either Pokémon if they feint. The side Pokémon may attack the opponent's flyer, not their side. If a trainer is knocked from the sky they lose. First to Fuchsia city's gate wins." He finished. Joe nodded, not too sure if he understood but he was willing to try. Ralph however looked completely befuddled. Why did they need to actually fight? Why couldn't this be a test of speed and endurance? "Ready?" Tom asked. Joe nodded back, unsure.
"Ready?" He said unsurely. Tom nodded.
"Ok. Oh and one last thing. Follow the path bellow." He added quickly as he pulled down his own aviator goggles. "Ok, GO!" he shouted suddenly. There was a blur of brown and air as Fearow suddenly whooshed past Joe and his Pokémon as Tom shot high up into the sky, already taking a huge lead before Joe had even gotten ready.
"Christ!" He exclaimed, stunned by the surprise of the move. He tapped Ralph's side to encourage him forwards. "We need to catch up quick." He told him. "Fly Up, after them!" he commanded. Again Ralph quite suddenly shot forwards and up into the sky. Joe and Pippy had to hold on for dear life as Ralph shot of at incredible speeds, pulling them along with him. Joe grabbed Pippy's body with one hand and held him against his chest to keep him safe. As he did so he pulled down his goggles with a swift movement of his hands and Ralph soared up through the clouds and sat in the blue sky, looking for the telltale signs of Fearow. Pippy looked around in awe. He had never been up so high before in his life. Joe patted his head, kindly and Pippy let out a delighted squeak. Joe smiled and patted Ralph's back too. "All right." He told them both. "Let's race!"
They flew on for a solid minute and still couldn't see any sign of Tom and his Pokémon. They appeared to have vanished completely. Ralph lowered back below the clouds so he could she where the path was going. Luckily for them the bicycle road that was part of the path was mainly a large concrete bridge that passed over the large sea that took up the majority of Kanto's water mass, ended at Vermillion dock. It headed at a diagonal angle down to Fuchsia city, the furthest south land based city in Kanto, excluding Cinnabar Island which wasn't a physically connected part of Kanto. They swooped in lower but still could not see Tom or his Fearow. ""Where'd they go?" Joe wondered. Suddenly there was a loud caw from above them. They glanced up to see Tom and his Wartortle descending beside them on Fearow's back. They came in level next to Ralph, waving cheerfully as the Joe, Pippy and Ralph just stared at them.
"Hey there." Joe shouted over to them. "How's it going?" He signalled. Joe signalled back.
"It's going good." He shouted over the roaring air.
"That's good to know." Tom shouted back. "Then he ushered Wartortle up to the side so he stood before Tom looking at Joe and Ralph. "Wartortle, use Water gun!" Joe heard him shout over the gust of air passing them. Immediately he took action.
"Quick, drop!" He instructed. Ralph didn't need telling twice. He dropped in height quickly, the jet of water flying from Wartortle's mouth passing just overhead and of into the sky bellow. Joe looked back at Tom and gave a smug smile. "So that's how you want to play." He chuckled to himself. He picked up Pippy and placed him carefully onto his shoulder. "Thundershock!" Joe Shouted. Pippy readied the static in his cheeks and fired a small bolt of electricity at the slow flying Fearow, hitting it in the side and causing it to jolt slightly and slow down a little. Tom could be heard cursing and he patted his Pokémon's side, calming it and making sure it was ok. He gave Joe a steely look and placed a light hand on Wartortle's shoulder, whispering something into his ear. Wartortle grinned and stepped up. It opened its mouth and freezing cold air began to form from within. After a second or so the air compacted together and formed a small ball. After another second that ball shrunk to a tiny pale aqua dot. Joe suddenly realised what it was going to do. He grabbed Ralph's collar and suddenly yanked back, causing him to come to a sudden halt in mid air. As he did so Wartortle released its attack. A long thread thin beam of ice shot out of its gapping jaw and straight past Ralph's face, only inches away from his flat nose. If they had kept going the beam would have hit him square in the side. As Joe Ralph and Pippy stared at the beam in sudden shock Wartortle stuck out its tongue at them, then proceeding to chuckle to itself as Fearow pulled away, flying off to the left away from them.
"Good work, Wartortle." Joe heard tom praise as they flew away, out of hearing distance. He patted Ralph who had begun to fly forwards again.
"Ice beam. Clever." Joe thought aloud, praising his friend's smart idea. "We'll have to look out for that." He told his Pokémon. Ralph turned, heading back onto the path direction. Joe and Pippy kept their eyes out for Tom's possible return. Finally Pippy began calling out and pointing towards a small clump of cloud not too far away. From the cloud burst Tom atop his Fearow, flying along in their direction, slowly catching up. While Ralph was faster than Fearow, Fearow was more defensive and Wartortle was definitely to be reckoned with now that they knew he had Ice beam up his sleeve – or rather shell. "Speed up, Ralph." Joe encouraged. "We need to keep ahead of them." Ralph nodded in response. He shot forwards, causing a huge gust of air to strike the two riders.
Bellow the two flying Pokémon was the cycle road. On the concrete surface their small, grainy, faded shadow's passed. On the road walked two trainers, one male, tall and wearing a grey jumper, the other female, slightly shorter, ginger and wearing green and yellow summer clothing. As they walked the two shadows passed over them quickly, first Ralph's, the Fearow's. Both Rocky and Winter looked up and watched the two Pokémon and their trainers pass by.
"Well that was quick." Winter said, watching their flight.
"If we don't hurry up they'll be waiting for us for ages." Rocky told her. He then proceeded to pull out one his pokéballs. "Let's speed this up." He announced, releasing the ball and his large stone snake Onix, Crash appearing before them. Quickly he climbed up onto its back and sat near the head, clinging on with both his large strong hands. He passed a hand back down to Winter. "Climb on." He told her. She took his hand and he helped her up. She gripped onto Crash's solid rock spine with her won smaller, weaker hands and held on tight. "Ok then." Rocky announced. "Crash, get us to Fuchsia city, quickly as possible." He told it. Crash nodded obediently and suddenly began sliding forwards at a pretty quick speed. Not fast enough to catch up with Joe, Ralph and Tom but fast enough so that they would be only a few minutes behind. Quickly they slid on, following the shadows high above them.
Meanwhile there was a full on dog fight going on up above them. Ralph constantly tried to dodge Wartortle's attacks while keeping steady so Pippy and Joe could attack back at Fearow. Occasionally either one of them would land a successful hit but not enough to do any real damage or cause any problems. At one point Ralph hit a bit of turbulence and Pippy nearly ended up shooting him with thunderbolt after being knocked of aim. Joe growled.
"Pippy, can you use a double team for Ralph?" He asked his Pikachu. Pippy looked at him, not only unsure what that would achieve but also where he could even do that. "It was just a question." Joe told him, seeing his bewildered expression. Tom raised Wartortle into the air above him, using both hands to keep him steady.
"Ice Beam!" He commanded over the roaring wind. Again the same aqua coloured light formed in Wartortle's mouth as it looked down at Joe and his Pokémon. The thin line of freezing ice shoot down sharply at them again. This time there was no way Ralph could avoid it. Without warning the beam hit him in the back, causing the area to freeze over suddenly. Ralph yelled in sudden surprising pain and dropped out the air, his wings freezing up beside him and his body dropping in angle. Joe grabbed him and Pippy at the same time and yanked up but Ralph couldn't stop the fall.
"Come on!" Joe shouted desperately, the ground beginning to get close again. "Fly up! Please!" he shouted, the sudden fear of heights came back. Ralph's wings finally defrosted just in the nick of time. He unfolded them, gave a huge flap and turned upwards, shooting just above the ground and back up into the sky, just avoiding being flattened against the pavement. They quickly regained height and joined back beside Tom. Joe whipped his brow, huffing with relief. "That was too close." He laughed; patting Ralph's side, kindly. "You're doing well, Ralph. Just keep going." Beside him he could hear Tom clapping his hands.
"Very nice." He complemented. "You really know what you're doing." Suddenly Fearow began to dive, shooting down below Ralph and Joe and through a cloud bank passing below them. All three over them looked around bellow but could not spot them.
"Keep your eyes open." Joe warned his team. For a few seconds nothing seemed to happen. Then quite suddenly out of the mist bellow burst forth the large ridden Fearow, Wartortle hanging on to its side as it flew directly upwards. As it passed Wartortle released a huge pump full of water from its mouth that hit Joe, Pippy and Ralph directly in the face. They held their arms up to protect themselves and Fearow flew up and past them, taking the lead now. Joe's clothes were soaked now and the cold air around them was not going to help them dry soon. He sighed, seeing Pippy shake the water of him and his fur go fuzzy and stand up like it had been charged with a lot more static than usual. Joe chuckled and gripped Ralph's side. "Let's get them back." He whispered. Ralph smiled and sped forwards, catching up with them in no time. Tom turned and was surprised to see Joe and Ralph directly behind them so quickly. He smiled at them and tapped Wartortle who spun around and readied another attack. "Ok Ralph, get ready to dodge." Joe told him. Ralph nodded. A split second later Wartortle shout out a jet of water which passed harmlessly by as Ralph rolled to the left out of the way. Pippy followed up firing a thunderbolt at Fearow and hitting its tail feathers. It squawked in surprise and stopped, trying to put out the small fire that Pippy had managed to start back there. It glared angrily at the trio and gave a loud caw of disapproval. Joe high fived Pippy. "Nice work." He congratulated him. Pippy smiled happily. He then gave him an expression that said 'I'd better get an apple for my good work.' Joe smiled, seeing his Pokémon's face. "Don't worry." He told him. "You'll get plenty of Apples. Pippy cheered with delight at this news. Then Joe saw Tom's face. He wasn't done yet.
"Don't get too cocky." He warned. "We may be close to Fuchsia city but we're not there yet. I've still got a chance to win as have you." As he finished saying so Fearow suddenly pulled up and glided upwards, doing a full circle around Ralph and landing back on the same level now behind them. All three of them looked back in surprise. Then Wartortle took the centre stage. It readied another ice beam and fired. Ralph dodged aside just in time, Joe narrowly avoiding being hit. They then realised that someone was missing.
"Pippy?" Joe called out, not seeing his Pikachu anywhere. He looked down over Ralph's side. His face turned to sudden horror. Pippy was falling out of the sky, a tiny yellow form towards the flat open ocean bellow them. "PIPPY!" Joe screamed, immediate panic spreading through his body. He grabbed Ralph's side and pushed him down. "DIVE!" He shouted, terrified for his friend's safety. Ralph didn't think twice. He folded in his wings and dropped out of the sky, diving straight towards the plummeting Pikachu.
Ralph was travelling the fasted he had ever gone just to reach his friend but Pippy had already fallen a great distance, curling up into a ball in an attempt to protect himself, not realising this was causing him to fall faster.
"Speed up, Ralph!" Joe shouted, fear for his friends life strengthening his voice. "We need to catch him before he hits the water." He instructed. Ralph sped up, flattening his entire body to an arrow point and ripping straight through the rising cold air like it was nothing. They were almost at sea level now. Pippy was only a few seconds away from hitting the writhing waves and being lost forever. Joe had to act quickly. "Get ready to pull!" He told Ralph has he suddenly stood up onto his legs and leant over the side. A second later he was gone, having jumped off arms first diving towards his falling Pikachu. Ralph continued to fly just behind him, the harness making sure that Joe was still attached. He shot downwards like a missile. Pippy was just in front of him now. He reached out with his open arms and quickly grabbed the small yellow and brown mouse just as Ralph suddenly turned up and began to fly forwards. This caused Joe to jolt suddenly as his falling was stopped by the harness, just inches away from the swirling waters. Quickly they were getting further away from the water as Ralph gained height and pulled them away to safety. "I've got you." Joe shouted as he held his grip on the small Pokémon. Pippy flailed around slightly, still feeling like he was falling. His eyes caught on Joe's smiling face and he slowly realised that he was safe in his hands. He smiled back at him, small joyous sparks escaping from his red cheeks. Joe cuddled him up to his chest and used his spare hand to grab the tether around his stomach. Slowly Joe began to pull himself and Pippy back up to Ralph above them. It took Joe a couple of seconds reach him. He raised his right hand up and grabbed Ralph's side. Pippy quickly scurried up his arm and sat safely on his back. Joe sighed, glad that his Pokémon was safe again. Suddenly he heard a light snap. He looked down and saw the elastic tether's last string snap away like a thin broken bone. It fell away and dangled limply bellow Ralph's stomach like a thin black umbilical cord, leaving Joe hanging unsafely from Ralph's side. Immediately he could feel his grip slipping against Ralph's dry skin. He tried to grab hold but there was nothing he could do to stop himself. Suddenly he was falling again, this time however he would not be stopped by the safety line. Ralph reacted quickly, diving back down and under Joe before he could even take a quick, empty breath. A few seconds later and Joe's fall was stopped. He opened his eyes again and looked around. He had landed safely on Ralph's back, unharmed and still breathing. He gasped in surprise and swallowed a huge lungful of air. Pippy was standing at his side, nudging his arm, caringly. He wanted to make sure his friend was ok. Joe smiled at him and sat up. He patted Pippy's small furry head and swung his leg over so he was sitting properly on Ralph's back now. He knelt forwards and hugged Ralph around the neck. "Thanks" He chuckled. Ralph smiled sheepishly back at him, giving a small humble guttural purr. Joe then sat up properly and pointed to the distant Fearow with Tom and Wartortle riding it. They were almost at Fuchsia city now. "We need to hurry!" Joe told his Pokémon. "They're almost there!" Ralph nodded. He didn't need telling twice. Suddenly the three of them shot of at incredible speeds. The world blurred into a multitude of colour, all blending together like a wet oil painting. The cold air turned into a gale as the atmosphere fought back against their flight. Joe and Pippy's faces were pulled back by the serious gusts attacking them, their wide mouths emitting diluted screams that were swept away by the wind as their ears were filled with its roaring disproval. Ralph seemed unaffected by the wind as he sped through cloud bank after cloud bank unfazed and unscathed. Quickly they were reaching their target but Tom was only inches away from the end now. "Pippy get ready." Joe called out. Pippy did so. As Tom and Fearow were about to reach the gate Ralph came up beside them. Tom and Wartortle stared in actual surprise as Joe and Pippy waved at them. Suddenly there was a flash of bright white light directly in front of them. Fearow skidded to a sudden stop as all three of them were blinded by the attack. Tom and Wartortle rubbed their eyes furiously. Pippy had released a blinding attack that had successfully stunned them.
"Blast!" Tom exclaimed, still rubbing his eyes. When he got his sight back a few seconds later he saw Ralph passing over the top of Fuchsia city's northwest gate. He saw Joe cheer with delight and raise his arms to the air. Again they had won and again Tom had lost. Tom thumbed Fearow's back angrily. "God damn it!" He exclaimed. Wartortle joined it, jumping up and down on Fearow's back. Fearow cawed in annoyance, both at loosing and at his trainer and friend attacking him like this. Slowly it began to fly them into the city, now no longer flying really fast but instead carefully. The race was over so there was no need to be quick. Both flying Pokémon slowly yet carefully landed in an open area of path inside fuchsia city's walls. Joe jumped off from Ralph's shoulders, helped Pippy down and then proceeded to undo the belts and harness around Ralph's body. Since the elastic rope had snapped it was pretty much useless now. Joe unclipped it and threw it aside, leaving it there for the rest of the day. He then proceeded to take of his goggles and extra belts and climbing hooks. As he was doing so Tom landed beside him atop his tired Fearow. He swung his legs over, slid of and helped his Wartortle down then proceeded to remove all his gear as well.
"That was one hell of a race." Joe told him, the energy running through his mind and body like a speeding train over the edge of a cliff. Tom looked at him, trying to look happy about his loss. He smiled, fake and walked over to his friend.
"You always seem to win whenever we challenge each other." Tom told him, giving a small fake laugh. He placed a hand on Joe's shoulder and gripped it tightly. Joe looked down at his hand. "I'm starting to wonder if maybe you're cheating." Tom thought aloud, trying to look suspicious of Joe. Joe looked up at his suspicious face.
"Of course I'm not." Joe told him honestly. It surprised him his friend could ever think something like that about him. "I just trained my Pokémon well. I gave them love and care and they won. That's all I've ever done." Tom raised an eyebrow, trying to look none believing.
"Really?" He asked, his suspicion obvious in his voice. Joe looked at him, concern starting to appear in his eyes.
"Yes." He told him, still sounding honest. "Why are you so suspicious?" He asked. Tom looked away suddenly, his face turning back to his normal friendly smile.
"Oh nothing." He lied through a cheeky grin. At that moment Winter and Rocky arrived, riding on the back of Rocky's onix, Crash. They slid quickly into town, digging up the ground slightly as they came. Behind them travelled a small group of angry people, upset that they had dug up the road. As they arrived they both jumped off from Crash's back and landed happily in front of Tom and Joe, smiles on both their faces.
"So who won?" Winter asked, excited. Joe raised his hand.
"We did." Joe told her. Winter smiled at him.
"Didn't doubt it for a second." She told him, rushing forwards and hugging him tightly, taking him by surprised. Rocky smiled to. Then his smile seemed to fade as for a split second he thought he could see disproval appearing on Tom's face, as though he wasn't happy that his friends had one. Joe uncomfortably pushed Winter away and she backed up, blushing slightly embarrassed. "Well done." She finished, coughing embarrassedly.
"Great race." Rocky joined in. "We saw you pass overhead at one point." Rocky told them. Joe smiled, looking back at his two Pokémon who were both smiling as well. Tom patted him on the shoulder again.
"Well I'd best get going, mate." He announced to the others sudden surprise.
"Going already." Winter asked. Tom nodded.
"Sorry but I've got things that need doing." Tom explained, walking back up to him Pokémon. "Professor Oak still needs my help and I've got important errands to run." He told them, placing a calm hand on Fearow's side. Fearow squawked defiantly. Tom laughed. "Don't worry." He whispered. "I won't get you to fly us there. You need a rest anyway." Fearow chirruped relieved. Tom whipped out its pokéball and quickly withdrew the exhausted Pokémon. He then did the same for Wartortle. Finally he released his Kadabra and grabbed hold of its free hand. "It was nice seeing you all again." He called out. "We should meet up again some time." He then whispered something into Kadabra's ear and within a second the two of them had suddenly disappeared in a puff of humid air. Joe, Ralph, Pippy, Winter, Rocky and Crash were left standing alone again in the centre of the city. They saw the town's people getting more and more agitated by the damage they had caused.
"We'd better clear this up." Rocky told them and immediately set his Pokémon onto doing so, releasing Chopper and Mina to help Crash dig the ground back up and keep it flat. Winter looked between Joe and Ralph. Joe had just withdrawn Pippy so he could get a quick rest.
"This may take a while." Winter told him. "Were you going to take on the gym today?" She then asked. Joe shook his head.
"No, I was going to give my team a rest for the rest of the day." He explained, patting Ralph's head. "They have earned it after all." He chuckled. Ralph however didn't seem to like this plan. He fluttered up behind Joe in a flash and immediately began pushing his forwards with his two large purple wings. Joe tried to fight back but Ralph was a lot stronger then he was. "Ralph?" Joe asked, surprised and also annoyed by his Pokémon's misbehaviour. "What are you doing?" He demanded. Ralph didn't listen. He just kept pushing Joe in the direction of the city's Pokémon gym. "I think he's eager to take on the gym leader." Joe shouted back to Winter as he got further away. "I'll see you guys later." Winter chuckled. She released her Staryu and her Horsea, River to help Rocky fix the road. As she looked back she saw Joe being pushing through the glass doorway by an overexcited Crobat.