Wingulls of Friendship

Three days later the group was heading up Route 104, having decided to just move on. They could always come back to Petalburg City if they needed to. The meadow rolled on, they hadn't encountered a tall tree for a couple of days now. Yet for the entire time they'd been walking they could see a dark, leafy green canopy in the near distance. As they got closer and closer it simply remained an indistinguishable dark, leafy green mass of vegetation.

Suddenly Mari halted, making everyone else stop and stare at her in puzzlement. "We should stop for the night."

"What? Right here?" Tyson questioned.

"No, over there." Mari pointed to a grove of trees with colourful leaves that they were gradually learning to recognise. It was still in the distance on the edge of that dark green forest but only an estimated half an hour's walk from where they were currently.

"But it's only the middle of the afternoon," Daichi argued.

"True, but up ahead is Petalburg Woods," Mari replied, looking apprehensively at the forest looming before them. "A hard yard for sure, so we'd better be prepared. If we rest for the remainder of the day and then continue early enough in the morning we might even be able to make it through in one day."

"Why don't we just keep going and stop somewhere in the woods?" Ray suggested.

"Don't want to do that," Mari said. "Petalburg Woods are so thick that it's always as dark as night in there. Better off waiting until the daytime to keep moving."

"Why is it called 'Petalburg Woods'? The city is really far away," Tyson mused, looking back down the route. He couldn't see the city at all anymore.

"That's because Route 104 was specifically planned to avoid most of the woods," Mari explained.

There was only a little bit of grumbling from Daichi but the group decision ruled in Mari's favour. The trainer garden was more exposed than the previous one and a bit smaller with not as many plants as the other, nor as much variety. There was also a ring of rocks and pebbles beside the garden that was full of soot and the blackened remains of branches and logs, indicating that many other trainers had also camped here.

The group put down their packs and started to work out the stress in their shoulders. Hilary ventured into the garden to see if she could identify some of the berries with her Berrydex and spotted something peculiar. It was a wooden board that was a bit weather damaged, hung from a bough with a piece of twine. It wasn't the trainer garden sign – that one was nailed to a very old-looking Oran tree – and the words written on it were quite faded but when Hilary finally managed to decipher them she smiled.

"Aw, that's so nice of whoever did this."

"Find something?" Mari asked, wandering over to where Hilary was and spotting the sign. "Oh, that… it's a bit faded."

She hurried back to her bag and returned with a black marker. She traced the faded lines of the text thickly. At that time Tyson also became curious as what the girls were doing and went to check on them.

"What's this?" he asked.

With a fresh coat of ink the sign could be read clearly. It proudly communicated a little helpful gesture:

WARNING! PETALBURG WOODS
AHEAD! GET PREPARED:

PECHA=ANTIDOTE

ORAN/SITRUS=POTION

CHERI=PRLYZ HEAL

CHESTO=AWAKENING

"What does that mean?"

"Seriously, Tyson?" Hilary sighed. "It's someone's way of giving us a hint."

"Telling us which berries are best to stock up on while we're here," Mari added, looking around the garden. "Looks like other people have had the same idea. Almost all of these berry trees are the ones written on the sign."

"'Get prepared'?" Max read, startling the three already there. "Are the Petalburg Woods dangerous?"

"Little bit," Mari admitted hesitantly. "Like I said before, it's super dark and there're lots of bug-type and grass-type Pokémon. Those types aren't known for being strong but they are infamous for being able to inflict nasty ailments on people and Pokémon."

Max cringed. "Yikes… good thing we decided to stop for the night, huh? Me and Kai were planning to go and fetch firewood for our camp. Thought I should let you know in case you wanted to come along."

"Why so early?" Tyson grumbled.

"We just figured it would be better to set things up as early as possible while we have lots of light. Kai isn't going to wait for us, so all aboard who's coming aboard, I guess."

Max turned and jogged to catch up with Kai, who was already leaving the camp. They travelled in the relative safety of the edge of the woods, that way it would also be easy for them to find their way back to camp. Togepi toddled along, chasing after her trainer like a duckling while Kai carried logs and heavy branches. Eventually they came to a cliff facing the sea. The woods stopped abruptly at the edge of it so there was no way at all to see around it. Max picked up a handful of twigs and dry grass and on his way tried to look over the cliff to chance a glimpse of what lay ahead.

"Man, this forest is really dense," he muttered. "We really have to get through it, don't we? What's the place Mari said we were going to? Rustboro City?"

Suddenly there was a weight on his head. He froze. Initially he thought something had fallen out of a tree and hit him but then it didn't move. There was the clatter of logs and branches falling to the ground behind him and he turned.

"Don't move!" Kai snapped. He looked fiercely determined about something but Max just thought that was one of Kai's default expressions, so it only made him more nervous when Kai took a Pokéball out of his pocket.

"W-what is it?"

"A Pokémon, probably."

"Well obviously!" Max panicked. "But what kind?!"

Kai didn't reply. He released Seedot onto the ground before him. "Bullet Seed!"

Max squeaked and ducked the well-aimed attack and the weight on his head suddenly flew away. He looked up at it as it stretched out its folded wings and glided out of harm's way on a strong sea breeze, twirling like a kite on a windy day. It looked a bit like a seagull. Max instantly consulted his Pokédex.

"Wingull, the seagull Pokémon. It makes its nest on steep sea cliffs and rides updrafts rising from the sea using long and narrow wings to glide. It is sometimes known to hide food and valuables around its nest."

"So this world does have seagulls," Max mused, thumping his palm with his fist as if he'd come across an epiphany. "Or at least their own version of seagulls." Kai didn't seem to be paying attention, too focused on wearing that Wingull down. "Weird though… we're by the sea and yet that's the only gull we've seen at all. Are they all in their nests or something?"

Max took the risk to lean over the edge of the cliff to check for birds but there was not a single one. Surely if there had been he would have also heard them long before they reached the cliff. Togepi cooed excitedly as if she was cheering. That got Max's attention. Kai's Seedot was biding its time and getting hosed by Water Gun. When the Wingull swooped in to attack, Seedot unleashed a powerful strike that knocked it out of the air. Kai attempted to throw a Pokéball while the Wingull was recovering but it saw the move and spat a little jet of water at the ball, knocking it off course and ultimately evading capture. That gave it the time and space to shake out its wings and take to the air again. Yet it wasn't leaving.

With a start Max realised that Kai was getting a head start again. He dropped the kindling he was collecting and summoned Mudkip. Max ordered him to use Water Gun but the water seemed to just slide of Wingull's wings and back. It retaliated with its own Water Gun.

"Hey!" Kai barked indignantly.

"What? You think you've got dibs on it just because you saw it first or something?" Max retorted. "You've already got four Pokémon, save some for the rest of us, jerk."

The Wingull settled down on the edge of the cliff, staring off into the horizon while Kai and Max faced each other crossly. They glared heatedly and through that came to a silent agreement. Kai smirked.

"I hope you realise that I've got the upper hand here. Grass-type trumps water." Seedot rumbled his agreement.

"Type matchups aren't everything and I'm not planning to back down."

Mudkip freaked when he suddenly realised what was going on. He looked over to Seedot, who was as resolute as his trainer. He shrank a bit and whimpered.

"Use Tackle!" Max shouted.

"Harden!"

Mudkip hesitated but squeezed his eyes closed, put his head down and charged in for the attack. Seedot hunkered down and seemed to get twice as shiny. Unable to see where he was going, Mudkip leaped and almost missed, only just knocking Seedot in the side.

"Heh. That's pathetic," Kai sneered. "Use Nature Power."

Seedot built up a green aura around himself, collecting it in front of his eyes. Mudkip saw the incoming attack and froze up like a frightened animal caught in the headlights. Max called out for his Pokémon to run. Seedot fired the ball. Spurred by his trainer, Mudkip narrowly dodged the attack coming for him. Max commanded him to use Mud Slap. Just as Seedot was preparing use another Energy Ball, Mudkip slapped him in the face with a big dollop of mud. The Energy Ball misfired and Kai had to duck to avoid it.

"Lucky shot but that won't win it for you," Kai growled.

Max could tell that Kai was about to get really aggressive. "Mudkip, Bide!"

That was not exactly what Mudkip wanted to do but he curled up on the ground and started to pile up energy.

"Che! Might as well finish this off before you can retaliate." Kai barked more commands for Nature Power and Bullet Seed. The Energy Ball from Nature Power literally blew Mudkip off the ground and a ruthless barrage of stinging seeds had Mudkip burying his face in the dirt and crying.

Max's eyes widened. "Come on, Mudkip! Bide it out, you can take it!"

Seedot didn't let up the onslaught until Mudkip fell quiet. Kai put one hand on his hip and snorted haughtily. Max covered his mouth. Mudkip looked absolutely battered and he was so still that Max wondered if he was even alive.

"So, does that mean you're going to stay out of my way?" Kai snapped.

"Wait!"

Kai narrowed his eyes. Max kept a close eye on Mudkip. He had some kind of feeling that something wasn't as it seemed. Mudkip was still tightly curled up and the air around him looked like it was wobbling, as if it was hot. A spark of hope violently ignited in his trainer when Max spotted one of his gills twitch.

"Ha! We're not done yet!" Max cheered triumphantly. "Unleash Bide, now!"

Mudkip suddenly got up and turned to glare at Seedot with an uncharacteristic fire in his eyes. The sheer force of the stored energy almost ignited into a fire as Mudkip lunged at Seedot for one last hurrah. The hit was so strong that it created a shockwave and the audible crack of a skull meeting a nut resounded across the grassland. Kai gaped in shock as his Seedot rocked and rolled on the ground, completely out cold. Max let out a loud whoop.

"Alright! Mudkip, you totally rocked! Take that, Kai!"

Mudkip smiled weakly at the praise but then stumbled. Max ran up to catch him before he completely collapsed and picked him up. The post-victory high was already crashing as Max observed the damage Mudkip had taken.

"Oh man, I'm sorry, buddy," he murmured to his starter. All of a sudden it didn't feel like a victory. What were they fighting over again? "It shouldn't have come to this – you guys fighting just because me and Kai got in an argument. We should have duked it out with beyblades instead."

Although, a selfish part of Max's mind argued that if they'd resorted to beyblades Max's chances of winning would have been significantly smaller.

Grass crunched under Kai's footsteps as he approached and Max looked up. He looked away quickly, slightly guilty and slightly resentful all at once. Kai sighed and crossed his arms. It took him a while to say anything but when he did manage to get something out he couldn't look directly at Max.

"Is… is your Pokémon okay?"

"What do you think?" Max snapped. Kai flinched, which made Max back down. The blunet wasn't trying to be mean. "He hasn't fainted, there's that. But he won't be able to go on at this rate."

"I bet you didn't even bring a potion."

Max opened his mouth to shout angrily but Kai suddenly thrust a purple and white spray bottle at him. He must have been carrying it in his pocket.

"I'm…" Kai choked, struggling to get the next word out, "… sorry… I got too carried away."

Max sighed and felt all the anger leave his body with the air. "Yeah, me too."

"You can have the Wingull."

"Huh?" Max blinked. Right… that's what they were fighting over.

"I said, you can have the Wingull. You're…" Kai swallowed, "you're right. I'll probably get another opportunity to catch a Pokémon in the woods anyway."

Max couldn't help but smile at Kai's sincere attempt to patch things up but there was one problem: "Thanks but there's no point now. Even if I use the potion right now Mudkip will still need some time to recover."

"I'll weaken it for you."

"You… will?"

Kai nodded. He released Poochyena beside him. "I'll weaken it and you can catch it."

First Max took a time out to give Mudkip first aid and then both of them turned to find their new target. However, both of them hesitated when they spotted it. Wingull was still perched in the same location it had been in when the fight started. Why hadn't it moved? What's more, Kai's Togepi was sitting beside it making gurgling noises and a gentle humming that sounded like singing.

"What's the matter with it?" Max wondered aloud.

"I think it's sad."

"Sad? Wow, you must be really in tune with animals or something," Max teased slyly.

Kai blushed and spluttered: "Sh-shut up! I mean, I just… what Togepi's doing… looks like she's comforting it."

Max hummed in understanding. He gazed at the Wingull thoughtfully for a while before walking up to it and crouching behind it. It felt his shadow looming over it and turned around but it didn't seem afraid nor did it try to run away. Its eyes looked – as Kai had said – sad.

"Hey…" Max started, then paused as he thought that perhaps it was a fool's errand to try talking to a wild animal. Wingull seemed to be listening so he continued. "My friend thinks you're really upset about something."

The Wingull turned away but instead of looking out to sea this time it looked down. Max looked down over the cliff face a second time. It was just an empty cliff but upon a more thorough inspection he noticed droppings, bits of straw, feathers and something shiny glinting in the sun.

"Nests…" Max realised. "Those are nests. Have you… have you lost your flock?"

The Wingull glanced at him despondently and looked away as a tear fell from its eye.

"Oh… I can see how that would make you pretty sad," Max said, sitting cross-legged on the edge of the cliff. "You would have lost all of your friends and family with that flock. But do you think maybe you can make new friends?"

Wingull looked at him questioningly. Togepi exuberantly cheeped something bright and encouraging that made Wingull's downcast expression turn hopeful. Max beamed. There didn't seem to be any need to weaken Wingull further, it was already quite beaten up by Kai's earlier attempt.

He reached for an empty Pokéball when all of a sudden there was a massive sucking force pulling them from the back. Wingull squawked in fear and panic as its light body was lifted right off its feet. It struggled even as Max managed to grab it by the wing and latch onto the cliff by his feet. That hold didn't feel so stable but that was all he had so far. He tried to look ahead and see what had suddenly caused that. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped.

A huge purple wormhole had opened up behind them. Poochyena had her claws dug into the ground and Kai had managed to catch Togepi. They were both struggling to stay grounded. Then the vacuum suction suddenly stopped. It was silent and still for a tense moment and then all of a sudden a spectacular flurry of blue and white feathers burst from the wormhole, accompanied by a chorus of coarse screeching and squawking.

There were hundreds, maybe even over a thousand Wingulls. They soared up into the sky and circled majestically over the coast, glad to finally be free of whatever prison they'd been trapped in. The Wingull looked up at the flock in awe, unable to believe its eyes. Max saw the way it looked at the flock and with disappointment he understood. He let go of Wingull's wing and it immediately took the skies, soaring with it friends once again.

The wormhole closed and in its wake floated the Porygon Z. Max spotted it first and cried out: "Kai! It's that Pokémon!"

Kai looked behind him and didn't waste a second. "Bite attack, Poochyena!"

Poochyena was quick to leap off her feet and lunge at the Porygon Z, clamping her jaws onto its tail. Porygon Z squealed (a horrible sound like a dubstep remix of a screeching amp). It twisted and spun around wildly, shaking back and forth until it finally threw Poochyena off. It steamed with fury at the attack but given how much it had hurt it opted to teleport right out of there.

With the Porygon Z gone and no danger of being sucked into a massive vortex of possible doom, Max lifted himself to his feet. He gazed up at the Wingulls gliding gaily and couldn't help but feel a bit glum. By all appearances, he'd just lost his chance to catch that Wingull. It would probably be happier with its flock.

Out of the corner of his eye he spotted something flutter down from the Wingull parade. Kai caught it out of the air and started to read it. Max ambled over to him with his hands behind his head and sighed.

"We should get back before the Wingulls make off with all the kindling we collected," he said. "Man, if Tyson catches wind of us seeing that Porygon Z again he's gonna make us scour this area for it all night, won't he?" Max laughed at the notion, although it was probably more than likely. "I suppose we don't have to tell him we saw it."

"I think we do," Kai said tersely. He was staring hard at the item that had fallen out of the air.

"What is that?"

Max looked over Kai's shoulder and couldn't hold in his surprise. It was a poster. A poster for the beyblade singles championship.

"I didn't know they had already released promotional material for the tournament," Max remarked. "It hasn't been that long since the BEGA drama."

"Look at the date."

Kai pointed to something in the fine print (of course Kai would read the fine print). There was a brief disclaimer, put in place for legal reasons, stating that the information on the poster was currently true to the best of the publisher's knowledge and came from a legitimate source. However, what was startling about it was the day it was dated: the 12th of December.

"Th-that's not possible!" Max cried. "When we left it was only early September, wasn't it? Wasn't it?"

Kai nodded grimly.

"But we haven't even been here for a month! Is it possible that time passes differently in this dimension? Did we land in a dimension where a day here is a week in our world?"

"I don't know but I think we should show this to the others."

"Right!"

Max hurried to collect his kindling and started running back to camp but he skidded to a halt when he felt a weight on his head. He tried to look up at it and saw a Wingull beak in his line of vision.

"Is that you again?" he asked hopefully. The Wingull squawked happily and started tapping his forehead with its beak. Max swatted it away. "Hey! Hey! Let's do this: one tap for yes, two taps for no, got it?"

The Wingull tapped him once.

"Alright. Are you the same birdie from before?"

One tap.

"Seriously?! What are you doing on my head? Are you trying to come with me?"

One tap.

Max took a moment to think about that before responding: "Don't you want to stay with your flock?"

It took Wingull even longer to respond. When it did, it was with two taps. Then one tap.

Kai closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose upon seeing Max's confused expression. "It wants to go with you, Max."

Max gawked at him. "Really?"

Wingull tapped once. Flying with its friends once again had been great but it had also thought about Max's offer. It wondered what it would be like to make new friends. New friends that weren't Wingulls.

"Put it in a Pokéball and let's go," Kai ordered, picking up his firewood and walking away briskly.

When they got back it was still too early to be lighting the fire. They built up the firewood anyway and started to settle down. The camp was already fully set up and everyone was starting to let their Pokémon out to play. Max gladly showed off the Wingull that had followed him back to camp. However, at this point Kai and Max couldn't avoid revealing some of what happened while they were gone (they were both a little too embarrassed to tell the full story). Mari's face reddened. Max braced himself for the onslaught coming their way.

"Are you serious!? Right before the Petalburg Woods you go and do this?!" she screamed, taking in the comatose Seedot and the injured Mudkip.

"I think Mudkip will be okay," Max reasoned timidly. "And you have revives you bought at the store, right?"

"Only two! Those things cost 1,500 pokédollars, you know! They're not cheap!" she growled. She reached over to her bag and procured a yellow and orange bottle in the same design as the potion bottle. She sprayed the solution inside liberally over Seedot. "This should do his injuries fine. Let him rest tonight and if he's not awake by tomorrow morning then I'll consider using a revive."

Ray tried to let his new Taillow out. He just took one defiant look at his trainer and flew away. Ray quickly returned him and glared at Tyson and Daichi guffawing at him behind his back.

"Having a few obedience troubles?" Mari snickered with a sly look on her face. Ray hung his head. "Don't worry, he'll feel a bit more willing to co-operate when he's hungry."

"He'll come around surely," Max said encouragingly. His demeanour did a one eighty with what he said next, "on the other hand, there's something important me and Kai have to tell you about."

"You mean besides what reckless morons you are?" Mari snapped.

Kai took the folded up poster out of his back pocket and showed it to the group. Jaws dropped among Hilary and the remaining bladers. Mari cocked her head to the side.

"Where'd you get that?!" Tyson exclaimed, snatching the poster out of Kai's hands and looking at it up close. Was this even real?

"While we were out getting the firewood we came across that Porygon Z," Max explained. He recounted the encounter, which only served to make the group even more bemused.

"That doesn't quite explain why the poster came out," Ray said.

"I know but that's not all that's weird," Max added. "There's a disclaimer at the bottom with a date but the date is in December."

"That can't be right," Hilary objected. "On the morning we got kidnapped I remember looking at the calendar in my kitchen and it was September 3rd. We have not been away for three months."

"Is time passing differently in this world than it does in our own?" Ray asked.

"We thought about that," Max admitted, "but we just don't know enough to really know."

"Argh! This is the worst!" Tyson groaned. "Okay, that's enough! No more of this Pokémon training and travelling crap! We need to find that Polygon!"

"It's Porygon Z," Mari hissed.

"Max, Kai, did you see where it went?"

"It teleported," Max replied. "That means it could be anywhere, right?"

"We have to start looking for it now!"

"Are you kidding?" Mari said. "Look at the sky, it's starting to get dark. Just sleep on it, might find it in the woods tomorrow."

"Have you not been listening to anything that has been said in the past five minutes?! Time is literally a-wasting here. Who knows how much time will have passed in our world by the time morning comes in this world?"

"Tyson, you're panicking," Hilary stated.

"Of course I'm panicking!"

"Tyson, calm down!" Ray chided in a serious voice that commanded everyone's attention. "We already figured at the beginning of this that we might end up missing the championships, even though at the moment it seems like that'll be sooner rather than later. However, freaking out about it isn't going to help. Neither will stumbling around in the dark looking for something that may not even be in this area anymore." He opened up the region map that Ash had given them and activated it. "I was looking at this map earlier and it gives really detailed information about all of the towns and landmarks and what's available. From what I've gathered, Rustboro is a busy city that has a lot of academia and facilities dedicated to research. If we press on we might lose a lot of time in our world but we also might be able to find someone there who knows how to efficiently track down a target that teleports."

Tyson looked like he wanted to bite back but he restrained himself, even though it was difficult. Ray's reasoning was always hard to argue with but it was hard to come down from that conversation and the realisation that the clock was quite literally ticking away for them.

A/N: Things get worse before they get better. The plot is thickening yet again. Will they finish their Pokémon journey or will they find Porygon Z first?

Please review! It gives me strength.