A/N: Fun fact of the day: this chapter title was unknowingly inspired by Giratina's awesome fic, Wings Have We. I worked this out only after posting it. So a plug for Giratina there in exchange for nicking her title. Ehehe . . .
Chapter Twenty-Five
Wings Have We
Ren smiled, spreading his arms generously. "Go ahead," he said. "Toss them over. See if I care."
A flicker of confusion crossed the girl's face. Her eyes were startlingly blue, he noticed. They were quite pretty, really. "Oh, I see. You're calling my bluff. I really will do it!" she said, waving the hand with Ren's Poke Ball in it to emphasise her point.
"Okay," Ren said, shrugging his backpack off his shoulders.
"What are you doing?" she demanded. "I told you I'd drop it if you moved!"
"Then drop it. Drop them all," Ren said, fiddling with the zip.
Frowning, the girl opened her hand, letting the Poke Ball in it drop. It fell towards the river, turning slowly in midair until it hit the water with a splash, disappearing momentarily before it bobbed up again a few feet downstream.
Ren watched it go idly, then shrugged and went back to digging through his bag.
"Aren't . . . aren't you bothered?" the girl asked, faltering.
"Why should I be?" Ren asked, finding what he was looking for. "I mean, that was a perfectly nice Poke Ball. Cost me a couple of bucks. But I wasn't that attached to it."
She just glared at him. Her blinking had sped up slightly, he noticed. She was confused. Uncertain.
"You know," he said casually, thumbing the release switch on the Poke Ball he had just pulled out of his bag, "you should really check what you have before you try bargaining with it." Camerupt appeared on the bridge behind the girl, snorting threateningly. Ren pressed three more switches, sending out Zangoose, Solrock and Manectric. Braviary squawked happily as Yanmega buzzed out from behind a tree on the bank and landed on Camerupt's back.
The girl's face fell as she looked at the Pokémon surrounding her, then at the three Poke Balls in her hands, and then back again. She pressed the release switches with fumbling fingers, but the Poke Balls sprung open to reveal only air. "Wh-when?" she spluttered, dropping them. "H-how did you switch them?"
"I switched them after Karl and I talked to Winona," he said, grinning slightly despite the seriousness of the situation. "You never had my Pokémon. You just stole four empty Poke Balls off my belt. Are you proud of yourself?"
The girl gave him a poisonous glare, but Ren laughed it off. "You could learn a thing or two about dirty looks from a friend of mine," he said, remembering Elly's cold green eyes with a slight shiver.
"You . . . you piss me off, Ren Goodwin," the girl said, shaking her head as she brushed a loose strand of hair out of her perfect face.
"I seem to be doing that to girls a lot recently," he reflected bitterly."And that reminds me. You evidently know who I am, but who are you?"
The girl laughed. It sounded genuine, although she was still glaring. "Like I'd tell you my name, Champion."
"Well, unless you want me to call you Annoying Thief Girl, I'd suggest you tell me."
"What does it matter? You're never going to see me again," she said.
Ren could hear shouts from the road behind him. "Manectric, go and fetch the police, would you?" Manectric yipped and dashed away. "I imagine they'll want a word with you," he said.
"Too bad they're not getting one," she said.
"Really?" Ren said, raising an eyebrow. "Not to sound cocky or anything, but we kind of have you surrounded."
"You're a funny one, Champion," she said with a smile. "I'll catch you some other time." With that, she vaulted over the side of the bridge.
Ren's eyes widened as he leaned over the edge to see where she'd gone. The swift-flowing river carried her quickly downstream, but she was a strong swimmer and before long she had reached the far bank. She clambered out of the river and climbed, sure-footed, up the bank.
"Braviary!" Ren said sharply as he set off running. He knew there wasn't much chance of catching up to her, but Braviary might be able to.
Braviary took off from the railing with a screech, winging his way towards where the girl was fast disappearing into the trees once again.
Ren reached the end of the bridge and turned left, heading along the road towards the girl, who he could just barely see on the road some way in front of him. He saw Braviary swoop down in front of her, but there was a flash of red light and her Sneasel appeared again, leaping off her shoulder and onto Braviary's back. The Flying-type screeched and tried to throw it off, but it hung on grimly. The girl ran past, and Braviary wheeled off, screeching in pain and frustration as its passenger did its level best to slice at his head while hanging on.
"Damn it all," Ren muttered, speeding up a little more. He had all but run out of energy during the first chase, and now he was flagging. He doubted he could catch up to the girl a second time.
As it turned out, he was to be denied the opportunity. A loud noise behind him made him look back – just in time to throw himself out of the way as a bright red sports car came haring down the road towards him. It blasted by in a cloud of dust, screeching to a halt just ahead of the girl. She dived through a door that popped open in front of her, recalling her Sneasel from Braviary's back as she did so. Tires spinning, the car shot off again, leaving Ren coughing from the dust behind it.
"Damn, damn, damn," he said, standing up and walking over to where Braviary had perched on a low tree branch after the Sneasel had been returned to its Poke Ball. He at least seemed unhurt. "Sorry, buddy," Ren said, stroking Braviary's proud plumage apologetically. "You did well."
Braviary chirruped softly, bumping its large, plumed head against Ren's hand as Zangoose and Yanmega caught up to them, Solrock and Camerupt bringing up the rear with Karl's Pokémon. "You all did well," he said as they gathered around him. "Scar, Sableye. Are you two all right?"
Karl's Dark-types appeared unhurt, so Ren took the opportunity to return them to their Poke Balls. As he returned his own Pokémon as well, a police car pulled up next to him, lights flashing. The door opened and one of the officers that had cornered the girl at the carnival stepped out.
"Mr Goodwin," the policeman said. "I'm glad you're all right. What happened to the thief?"
"She got away," Ren said. "I'm sorry. A car came along and picked her up."
"What kind of car?" the policeman asked, pulling out a notebook.
"Bright red," Ren said. "Some kind of sports car. No spoiler on the back. I couldn't see the logo or license plate, sorry."
"Well, there can't be that many bright red sports cars in Fortree," the policeman said, jotting down a few notes. "We'll keep an eye out, but I imagine they'll be out of town before too long. Could be anywhere from Lilycove to Mauville by tonight. What did she get away with?"
"Nothing, as far as I know," Ren said, grinning slightly. "I got back the Pokémon she stole off my friend, so unless she took someone else's too, she got nothing."
"We haven't had any other reports of theft," the policeman told him, flipping over a couple of pages on his notepad. "What about your Pokémon, though?"
"I had them the whole time," Ren said, quickly outlining how he'd tricked her into stealing his empty Poke Balls.
The policeman chuckled. "Good work, kid," he said. "You'd make a good cop someday. Anyway, we're going to do a quick loop around the city now. See if we can't spot this red sports car of yours. You should go on back to the carnival and give your friend his Pokémon back."
"All right, officer," Ren said with a nod as the policeman got back into the car, which promptly sped off east. He headed back towards the bridge, meeting Manectric and the officers it had fetched on the way. Ren briefly summarised the situation for them as he returned Manectric to its Poke Ball with a slight sigh of relief. Even though he had known where his Pokémon were the whole time, he only really felt safe with all six of them on his belt.
Returning to the carnival, Ren pulled out his Pokenav and called Karl, who answered immediately.
"Ren? Is that you?"
"Yeah, it's me. Listen, I got Scar and Sableye back."
Karl's sigh of relief came down the phone as a rush of static. "Thank Arceus," he said. "Do I get to punch the person who nicked them now?"
"No, she got away," Ren said. "Sorry about that. The police are looking for her, though."
Karl swore loudly and colourfully. "I'm going to kill that bi- ow! Okay, okay! Sorry! I'm sorry!"
Ren frowned. "Karl?"
A different voice answered. "Hi, Ren, this is Winona. Well done on recovering the stolen Pokémon."
"Do I want to know what you did to Karl?" Ren asked.
"That was Skarmory, actually," she said innocently. "In lieu of washing his mouth out with soap, I've had Skarmory nipping at his ear every time he swears like that. He's not nearly as bad now as he was five years ago. Anyway, come on back to the stage. Karl will want his Pokémon back, and I've got someone here who wants to meet you."
"What? Who is it now?" Ren asked, but the line had already gone silent. Sighing, he began the walk back towards the carnival.
Ren allowed a slight flush of pride to run through him as he passed through the crowd. Although the girl had got away from him, he was quite pleased with how he'd managed to trick her. Of course, he would have had to be entirely foolish to actually let her steal his Pokémon in the first place, but . . . that look on her face was priceless, he reflected. Pity she got away.
As he approached the stage, Karl came charging out towards him, shouldering people aside in his rush. Chuckling slightly, Ren held out Karl's two Poke Balls.
The black-haired boy snatched them off him and pressed the release switches. When Scar and Sableye materialised in front of him, he breathed a heavy sigh of relief, sinking down to sit on the ground as if the air rushing out had deflated him. Scar nosed him reassuringly, and Sableye scampered up onto his knee and patted him on the head.
Ren smiled, only able to guess how Karl had been feeling. He couldn't imagine losing any of his Pokémon for even a minute; even though he'd switched their Poke Balls for empty ones, he had felt his heart drop through his stomach when he'd noticed their absence.
"Thank you, Ren," Karl said tightly, standing up again and clasping his hand, all pretenses of standoffishness gone.
Ren could tell that Karl was trying not to cry, so he simply clapped him on the shoulder and moved on towards the stage, leaving the other boy together with his Pokémon.
Winona was waiting for him beside the stage with a young, redheaded woman who looked vaguely familiar. "I'm impressed, Ren," Winona said. "That was well done. Still . . . it's good that you managed to get Karl's Pokémon back, but that could have been dangerous. Be more careful next time, okay?"
Ren nodded. "All right. Uh . . . is this the person you wanted to meet?"
"That's me!" said the redhead brightly, stepping forward and putting her face right up next to Ren's, looking him in the eyes. He tried to pull back, but she grabbed him by the shoulders and held him still.
"Uh . . ." he said awkwardly.
"Yes!" she said, letting him go and skipping backwards again. "Elesa told me about you. We were watching the Ever Grande Conference on TV last month, and she said 'Hey, I know that kid! He won the Bolt Badge off me a while back!'."
"Uh . . ." Ren said again, trying to make sense of the bubbly young woman in front of him. Elesa . . . the Bolt Badge . . . the Feather Carnival. "Skyla?" he said, frowning slightly.
She grinned widely, throwing him an aviator's salute with two fingers. "That's me! Mistralton City's Gym Leader, at your service! I came for the Feather Carnival, but the weather in Unova was terrible when I left yesterday, so I'm late. I hear you've all been having fun without me!"
"I wouldn't call it 'fun', Skyla," Winona said with a note of disapproval in her voice. "One of my apprentices had his Pokémon stolen."
"But Ren got them back, didn't he?" Skyla said. "All's well that ends well. Speaking of that, was that your Braviary I saw flying around earlier?"
"Ah, yes, it would be," Ren said. "I don't think anybody else here has one."
"He's a fine specimen," Skyla said. "Young, too. He's going to get even bigger. Did you catch him when you were in Unova? About the same time you beat Elesa? Well done on that, by the way. She doesn't go down easy."
"Er," Ren said. "Yes, I caught him as a Rufflet when I was in Unova . . . not quite three years ago. I was twelve."
"What possessed you to go running off overseas anyway? Unova Badges wouldn't do you any good for the Hoenn League."
"I . . . I hit a snag. With Brawly and the Knuckle Badge. I needed to . . . get away from it all for a while, so I went to Unova, watched the Conference, challenged a few Gyms and then came back here."
"How many Unova Badges did you get in the end?" Skyla asked, looking thoughtful.
"Three: the Basic Badge from Lenora, the Trio Badge from Chili, and the Bolt Badge from Elesa."
"How would you like the opportunity to earn another one?" Skyla asked with a glint in her eye.
"You mean . . ." Ren blinked, not entirely following.
"The Jet Badge, sport. You want it?"
"Don't I have to, you know . . . challenge you at the Mistralton Gym?" he asked.
"Eh, not really. I think you've earned the right to battle me for it. Winona's freed the main stage up for us. You in or not?"
Ren blinked. Today was certainly shaping up to be an extraordinarily eventful day.
Fifteen minutes later, he found himself standing at one side of the main stage. Skyla stood at the other end, a lively breeze tugging at her red hair. Winona stood between the two of them, ready to act as adjudicator.
A sizable crowd had gathered, despite the unscheduled nature of the event. The Hoenn Champion battling a Gym Leader from the distant Unova region was sure to draw attention.
Ren himself wasn't sure how the battle would turn out. He was expected to win, of course. In a match between a Champion and a Gym Leader, the Champion should come out on top every time. This was different to his battle with Roxanne two days ago, though. There had been nobody watching that one, nobody to bear witness if he lost. Here, there were hundreds of people watching already, with more trickling in every second. If Ren was defeated . . . he shuddered to think of the consequences.
"This battle will be a three on three," Winona declared. "The challenger, Ren, will be allowed to switch Pokémon at will, but Skyla must keep each Pokémon in until it is declared unable to battle. The battle is over when all three of one Trainer's Pokémon are judged to be unable to battle. Any questions, Trainers?"
Ren shook his head, feeling slightly nervous. Skyla evidently had no problems either, for she snatched a Poke Ball from her belt and held it at the ready. She looked to be genuinely enjoying herself.
Ren glanced down at his belt. Manectric was the obvious choice for this battle, but would it be best to save it for last or to send it out first in hope of a quick win? If I recall rightly, Skyla's strongest Pokémon is Swanna, some kind of Water/Flying type mix. She probably won't send that out first, though, so I might be safe with Camerupt. But the battlefield is wooden, and there are no rocks around to use for a Rock Slide attack, so there goes that option. I'd better play it a little safer. I'll hold Manectric in reserve for now. Taking a deep breath, he plucked Solrock's Poke Ball from his belt and held it out in front of him. "I'm ready," he said.
"In that case," Winona said, "let the battle for the Jet Badge begin!"
The familiar crack of an opening Poke Ball was almost drowned out by the enthused roar of the crowd. Ren and Solrock found themselves facing off against a Pokémon Ren had never seen in person before. A large blue creature flapped in place in front of Skyla. It had a pink, heart-shaped nose and a white ruff around its neck. Personally, Ren thought it looked like the mutant offspring of an Eevee and a Golbat, but he didn't say anything. He had seen Swoobat in books and magazines before. They were endemic to the Unova region, so he hadn't had any experience battling them before. He did remember that they possessed dangerous Psychic-type abilities.
"Fire Spin!" he ordered quickly. The emphasis of this battle would be on speed, most likely. Solrock thrummed happily, conjuring a blazing pillar of fire around its opponent. Ren blinked slightly as the heat wave hit him, but forced himself to watch the centre of the blazing maelstrom carefully as the crowd murmured appreciatively. He wasn't here to put on a show, but there was no harm in being a little flashy.
The pillar of fire bulged in the middle and exploded, tongues of fire vanishing almost instantly as visible waves of psychic energy radiated from Swoobat. Skyla gave an order, pointing directly at Solrock, and Swoobat's pulses of energy became more focused, blasting towards Solrock.
"Counter it!" Ren said, his voice urgent. Solrock hummed and glowed purple, sending its own waves of power back toward Swoobat. The two forces crashed into each other with a boom that sent ripples of wind across the stage, spawning from the contact point and blasting away at anything nearby. Ren saw the wind snap a string of coloured bunting at the edge of the stage, sending one end flying loosely into the crowd.
The two Pokémon continued their efforts, rippling waves of mental energy pushing back and forth in the centre of the stage. Neither of them seemed to be able to get any leverage over the other, Solrock's purple energy and Swoobat's pink crashing into each other with the force of a thousand hammer blows.
"Dammit," Ren muttered. Getting caught in a deadlock was never good. He had to do something to break it, but what? Solrock's Rock Slide attack was out, thanks to the terrain. Fire Spin would just be destroyed by the Psychic waves, and SolarBeam would take far too long to charge up. But he couldn't switch Solrock out, either; that could cause Swoobat's Psychic attack to hit him instead. The only thing left to try was . . . "Spin! Keep up the Psychic attack for just a little longer!" he ordered. It was risky, especially considering that this was a technique they had only developed recently, but it was the only thing he could do.
Solrock began to rotate in midair, spinning like a wheel and drawing threads of Psychic power with it. As its speed increased, more and more of its Psychic energy became caught up in its motion, forming a concentrated disc of energy that enveloped it entirely. Swoobat's attacks bounced ineffectually off the wall of purple light, but they were still at a deadlock.
"Turn and go straight through!" Ren said. Solrock's wheel turned slowly until its edge pointed directly at Swoobat, scything easily through the oncoming attack and sending its remnants flying off to either side. "Go!" Ren shouted, and Solrock rolled forward like a circular saw, cutting through the air towards Swoobat with almost effortless ease.
Swoobat saw it coming and jinked out of the way, but Solrock's wheel turned far more quickly than Ren would have thought possible, slamming into the Flying-type with enormous force and sending it flying. It had the fortunate side-effect of breaking Swoobat's concentration, which meant that the Psychic waves stopped.
"Follow it up!" Ren commanded. "Grab it!" Solrock righted itself, causing its Psychic disc to dissipate. It wasted no time, however, in pressing its advantage, seizing the confused Swoobat with its Psychic attack and lifting it high into the air. Seeming to read Ren's mind before he could even speak, Solrock smashed its opponent down against the wooden stage with a sickening thud before lifting it again and bringing it back down a second time, then a third. When the purple nimbus around Swoobat vanished, it was clearly unconscious, lying motionless on the floor.
Winona rushed over to check Skyla's Pokémon. When she straightened up, she lifted one hand towards Ren's end of the stage. "Swoobat is unable to battle! Ren's Solrock is the winner!"
After returning Swoobat to its Poke Ball, Skyla paused a moment. "You're better than I thought, Champion," she called. "Elesa said you were good, but I didn't realise you were this good."
Ren wasn't sure quite what he should say to that, so he simply nodded, accepting the compliment. He didn't want to give away how close the previous round had been. Despite how short it had been, the battle had been extraordinarily tight. If Solrock hadn't been able to pull off its spinning manoeuvre correctly, Skyla and Woobat would have seized the opening just as he had.
The crowd was cheering, he realised dimly. They were floating somewhere on the edge of his consciousness, being largely unimportant to the battle, but he could hear them – as if from the other end of a very long tunnel. He blinked hard, forcing himself back to earth. He looked around, taking in the sight of the hundreds of people clustered around the stage. There was something special about it, he realised. This was all new. Until the Ever Grande Conference, he had become accustomed to battling without an audience.
"Wake up, Ren!" Skyla called good-naturedly from the other end of the stage.
Ren blinked. Right. Concentrate. Don't get distracted. "I'm awake!" he replied. "Are you going to choose your second Pokémon."
"Of course! It has to be Swanna at a time like this!" she said with a confident grin, sending out her star player.
Okay, massive type disadvantage there with Water. Do I switch? No, best to see how much damage I can do before Solrock goes down. "Psychic!" he shouted. "And start charging while you're at it." He was hoping to get at least one SolarBeam off, as Swanna's Water typing would make it at least partially vulnerable.
"Hydro Pump!" Skyla ordered. Swanna flexed its graceful white neck and opened its beak. Before Solrock could react, a high-pressure jet of water blasted towards it, slamming it backwards in the air several feet.
"Solrock!" Ren cried. It wasn't as if he hadn't been expecting a powerful Water-type move, but Swanna's speed had taken him aback.
When the jet of water stopped, Solrock was hovering awkwardly in the air. Even as Ren watched, it sank slowly to the ground, unable to remain airborne. It came to rest on the wooden stage with a clunk before toppling over completely, rolling slightly from side to side on its rounded back.
A single attack? Ren thought uncomprehendingly as Winona declared Solrock out for the count. Just how monstrously strong is this thing? Even with the type disadvantage, Solrock should have been able to take that hit.
All right. Skyla's played her trump card; it's time to bring out mine.