The Charmeleon dashes around me, attempting to catch my tail, but I swing around and send a gust of wind in her direction. She staggers backwards for a few steps, but rights herself easily and breathes a stream of fire at me. I react a tad too slow and take the flame directly in my face. It burns, but nowhere near as badly as I thought it would.
"Nova, I'm so sorry-"
I leap onto her, pinning her down onto the floor. "Don't apologise!" With a flap of my wings, I fly over her and turn around immediately, getting read for when Phendrene gets back up.
"Not bad," the Fraxure calls from the side, casually leaning against a tree. "But if you really want to evolve, you have to get serious. Like, use your claws."
I grit my teeth and pounce back onto the Charmeleon, trying to slash at her, but my claws are far too weak, and instead I fall over. She rises and prepares her claw, but stops.
"Do it!" Rue yells from aside, but instead Phendrene retracts her arm and gets off me. She's about to say something when suddenly Rue pushes her aside. "Weaklings. You'll never evolve like this!" She instantly turns on me and through reflex, I dodge what seemed like a strong punch by rolling to the side, but with her leg she gives me a kick in the back as I grunt in pain.
I feel a huge desire to overcome this villainous Fraxure figure and to sit up and flip her over, but her grip on me is ever so tight. She looks so smug. An intense aggression overcomes my mind as I use all my force to try and make her submit. I suddenly feel myself rise up miraculously and tower over her: what once seemed like an insurmountable obstacle is now small. Then I push her over with my newly strengthened arms and onto the floor, but am disoriented quickly by the sudden shift in my body weight and fall onto the Fraxure.
I did it. I evolved into a Flygon.
"Hey!" Rue's muffled shout interrupts my brief reverie. "I help you evolve and this is how you repay me?"
"…Sorry." I roll off of her, and try and feel my limbs around as I lie on the grassy floor. My arms reach further and are more versatile.
Rue pushes herself upright to a sitting position. "That went down pretty fast. You probably had a lot of pent up energy built up from flying all the time."
I hear Phendrene hold onto my opposite hand. "You're a Flygon now."
"Yeah, and it would have been a lot easier if you just attacked him," Rue says and stands up straight, wiping dirt from her side. "I don't see you having much of a problem breathing fire in this forest, yet you refuse to lay a finger on Nova?"
Phendrene looks away in silence.
"What? Fine, do what you want. Nova, you just gonna lie here now? Or do I need to carry you back?" Rue prompts.
"I'm fine!" I push myself up with the unfamiliar green arms, almost misjudging my strength. "It's not raining like last time."
"If you say so," she says and turns around to leave, appearing quite a bit shorter than I'm used to.
"Wait!" I spring to my legs, but lose balanced and sidestep over to a tree. "What about you? Why aren't you evolving?"
She stops in her steps. "There's no point," she says slowly, refusing to turn around. Then she takes off into the forest.
"You're so big." Phendrene's voice brings my attention to her. She, too only stands at my sitting height, but I'm used to her being smaller than me.
"I just evolved. Of course I'm bigger." I pat on her head to placate her. "You'll be bigger when you evolve into a Charizard, too. But that'll be a few years later."
"Can you bring me flying now?" she asks.
"I'm not sure I can even walk on two legs yet." Gripping onto the bark of a tree, I shift my legs into a position that would support me. The ease surprises me, and I take a few steps towards the centre of the clearing. I'm still somewhat unused to it, but I am able to balance myself normally. Looking up at the much closer canopy, I flex my wings lightly, feeling the air rustle around it. Taking a deep breath, I jump into the air and try to thrust myself upwards.
My speed alarms me slightly, and I realise I've flown double the distance of what it this effort would have taken me as a Vibrava. The trees are already smaller than I'm used to. In the middle is a curious Charmeleon looking upwards, but she can't wait. It is so effortless to hover in one spot compared to before. Spotting the hill nearby, I expand my wings and glide towards the hillside.
Everything is just so much easier. I don't even feel slightly out of breath. So I dance in the sky, making loops around the hill, never once touching the floor, as the sun gradually falls on the horizon and basks the world in orange.
In what seems like ages, I hear a demanding voice call out. "Nova, do you want food or not?" Feeling a little hungry, I swoop down and land easily in the clearing next to the Fraxure.
"How are you not tired?" Rue asks, frowning. "Flying must take a lot more energy than walking."
"I feel like as a Flygon, I have limitless strength!" I exclaim, and take a seat with everyone else.
"I think it's just you," Hale adds in from aside. "Neither Vie or I can stay up for that long."
"Yeah, well, what can you expect? He probably spends triple the time flying compared to you two," the Fraxure gestures to me and sits back down. "But I'm not complaining. That means he can carry me around."
Huh? "Can't you just evolve," I ask, confused.
"No!" She glares at me. "I'm not like any of you! I don't get wings!"
"Oh, right," I answer sheepishly.
Rue seems quite bothered by my question and stops talking altogether. But when Vie comes back with some more prey, she seems excited that I have evolved and asks me all sorts of questions. Silex gives a warm congratulation, but doesn't say any more.
At night, when they've all gone off to practice some battling, though, does Phendrene start pestering me. "Come on!" she says. "Let me try flying on you!"
It's hard to ignore the brightest source of light around me. "But what if I drop you?" I ask back, lying lazily on my back. "Maybe tomorrow," I add and flip onto my side.
"Promise?" she climbs over to face me. Her tail illuminates the lower side of her face and casts shadows upwards.
"Promise," I answer to the little Charmeleon.
And it turns out it's really easy. After lecturing her to not get in the way of my wings, everything goes smoothly. Though I do get noticeably out of breath with another weight on me, it's doable. Rue spots us when we land, and starts to ask me to carry her as well, and I grudgingly accept. She's a lot more annoying than Phendrene when on the back, continually trying to talk to me, which makes me really dislike flying with her.
But it turns out I will have to a week later. When I ask Silex if I could visit Lyrl again, my first time as a Flygon, the others pipe up. Rue says she wants to see the place, now that there are enough people with capable flight abilities. Apparently from Silex's observation, my persistence for practicing flying paid off because even I'm a better flier than her. This means I should carry Rue, since a group moves as fast as its slowest member. Vie also volunteers to come along, if only to visit people she hasn't seen to a few years, but Hale expresses distaste immediately. Phendrene is quite upset, since she is interested but knows that she herself is barred from the place. To comfort her I tell her we can go visit the Charizard's place afterwards, which makes her much happier, humming a small tune as she waves us goodbye.
When we're in the air the wind blocks out most of the sound and we don't talk unless we're planning to land or change direction. But Rue clearly has no experience of flying and tries to yell things at me from on my back. At least she learns quickly to stay quiet, but not before starting to scratch her tusk on my neck. I stop her by feinting a flip. But then I realise she's using a piece of plant I brought for Zeta instead and become seriously tempted to shove her off my back. I don't of course.
I'm quite fed up with her by the time we're in the desert, and even moreso when Silex goes off with Vie to teach her how to hunt in the desert as a Flygon while Rue tumbles and throws sand everywhere, including on me. If I didn't have these goggles they'd get in my eyes. Maybe I should cut her some slack; it's her first time both for flying and seeing the desert.
When the two get some prey back, Rue asks a lot of questions about how the desert works and Silex answers them patiently. But Vie seems quite anxious as the fire flickers and lights up her face.
"Thinking about your older brothers?" I move close and ask her.
"They're probably still angry," she responds, staring into the fire.
"Nah. You're still siblings." I try to comfort her.
"But we haven't met in so long. What if they had mates or children? What if they moved to somewhere else in Lyrl, or even to the wild? What if they had an accident when hunting and…"
"They're fine. Last time I was there I saw Bane." That's a lie, but my conscience can live with white lies. "And, everyone else is fine! I saw Navy and Jay and other people."
"That's nice." She stretches slowly and lies onto the ground, her eyes unfocused into the night sky. "Nova? Do you remember when we used to play pebble dodge?"
That came out of nowhere. "Yeah?"
"Why can't we do that anymore?"
"…Because we're not Trapinch?" I answer. She's still gazing off into nowhere.
"No, I mean, we don't… talk as much anymore." She turns her head. "You're always off flying. Why don't you come and try battling sometime? Rue said she saw you had potential when you battled to evolve."
"It seems like it would hurt if I do it every day. Why not try flying?"
"How about both?" She sits back up. "I'll fly with you and you can battle with me."
I still don't want to battle, but I don't want to make Vie upset either. "Okay then," I tell her, but I still shift uncomfortably at the thought.
"And one more thing, Nova…" she says as she looks at me in the eyes. "Do you still want to be my mate?"
"I heard that!" Rue shouts obnoxiously from the side. I take the opportunity to look away.
"Sorry. Good night." She lies back onto the ground, this time facing away with her tail tucked in.
I want to reach out to her but I don't. As I stare into the night sky, accompanied by Rue's snores, I feel a growing sadness in my stomach. This is what changes when you become an adult, isn't it? Hale, Rue, sometimes even Spire… they always make comments about either Vie or Phendrene. Mainly Vie. I just want to have fun with her, but with all those childhood promises and expectations from other people… So what? Why is it such a big deal?
Especially since she still hates Spire, but I'm still trying to befriend him. It's gotten to the point where she doesn't even talk about Spire around me anymore, and has a look of distaste in her eye every time anyone mentions him, but never vocalises her discontent. Why does she have to pretend? It's not as if we don't know.
Rue's the only one who talks tomorrow morning before we start flying. During the flight, I almost fly too fast ahead before Rue shouts in my ear to stop me, which makes me turn my head back and realise the other two Flygon are far behind. She starts to get excited as the stone walls of Lyrl come into view, which I can tell because of her shaking legs. I imagine flying in just like the other times, but with Rue it would only bring trouble, so I land at the gates. Silex catches up a moment later, whereas Vie is left panting.
The guard Flygon gives a look of confusion at Rue before she steps forward. "Hello!" she says brightly.
"…Hi," the guard says after a bit of hesitation. "Who- State is your business here!" he attempts to say in a serious tone, but he's failing.
Seems like we got lucky on a shy one. He doesn't even seem much older than me.
"I'm just visiting with my friends!" Rue, gesturing to us, says in an extremely sweet and polite tone that I never knew she was capable of. "I'll only be here for a few hours! At most I'll stay 'til tomorrow!"
The guard doesn't respond immediately. "Hold on," he says and yells the name of someone. Soon, a much bulkier and stern-looking Flygon flies into view, which makes Rue shrinks a bit.
"So, there's a… Fraxure? Interesting. Of course you are welcome, but… Will you be willing to let us take a sample of your DNA?"
Rue seems visibly uncomfortable now, and Silex steps forward. I instinctively latch onto Vie's arm, used to having someone to hold in tense situations, but she flinches at my touch so I back off and hold my arms together by myself.
"She's only a hatchling, sir. It wouldn't be appropriate to-"
"I understand," the old guard says. "But her species is extremely rare in Evitern, and it is only proper that we keep a record, so our scientists are able to gather more knowledge."
"Fine, I'll do it," Rue tells him. "Make it quick, though."
"I'm glad you complied, lass," the Flygon says as he smiles. "Come with me." He turns around to Silex. "We'll bring her back very soon. I understand your unease, but it is for the best. We will make sure she's in good shape." He bows to Silex and leads Rue off into the streets.
Silex mutters something, but she regains her composure quickly and asks the younger guard, "May we come in now?"
"Um, sure, but you should wait here until the Fraxure-"
"We know," Silex says before walking through and sitting against the wall. Vie goes next to her and I follow them in.
"That was a much stronger reaction than when Phendrene first entered," Vie says.
"…Yeah."
She looks over. "Do you know why?"
Silex responds from the other side. "Unovan Pokémon are very rare here. It's probably the first time they have seen a Fraxure in their life."
"But why do they need to get her… what was it?" Vie asks again.
"DNA. It's just a sample. It'll probably be beneficial in the long run. And Rue has enough mental fortitude to last through the procedure."
"Is this going to happen to us if we go to the Charizard's place or something?"
"Of course not. Flygon are by no means rare."
My attention wavers as they talk about something else and I end up staring at the sky. I kind of want to go flying again except it'll probably cause a hassle with the strict Lyrl guards.
After a while, Rue comes into sight clutching her arm, although judging by her facial expression she seems all right and still excited about being here.
"We wish you a pleasant stay at Lyrl," the older guard says to Rue.
"Thanks, you too. I mean- just thanks," she quickly corrects herself.
"Didn't know they could be that nice," Vie whispers after we walk out of sight of the gates.
"Yeah," I concur.
"It was a bit creepy though, everyone seemed super interested in me," Rue says, much more loudly.
"It's not like you're not interested in Lyrl," Vie says back.
"True."
After Vie and goes off with Silex to find her brothers, Rue spends an absurd amount time checking out the fountain. I'd already gone to see Zeta (who is still a Trapinch for some reason) and she's still there.
"Oh, and how does it pump the water up?" she asks me.
"No idea. Something to do with underground mechanical things? Why would I know?"
She seems disappointed. "Okay, fine. Where's Silex?"
"She's trying to find help Vie find her brothers."
"Let's go, then!" She shouts cheerily before she runs off to the square while dragging me.
I glance towards the side of the path as she's running along and see a lot of the Flygon watching Rue. Good thing she is much braver than Phendrene or she'd get nervous. The more looks we get, the more I think the contrary is true; Rue seems to like the attention.
I bump into a few old friends that recognise me from my other visits, whom Rue asks random questions to. ("Was Nova always this big of a nerd?") I try to excuse them and look for Vie in the crowd but they don't seem to be here.
Rue's getting pretty cosy when I spot Vie in the crowd. I leave Rue to her conversations and walk over to Vie, and realise she's talking to Bane, who is sitting with his back to Vie. He is slightly larger, making the prospect of approaching him seem daunting, so I stay at a distance.
"Come on, talk!" Vie yells and moves to his front.
He looks up. "What? I'm not going."
"Why do you have to be so stubborn? Everything would be fine if you would just come with us."
"Why not you come with me?" His voice reeks with blame. "Haven't you had enough of your fun time with your friends? You're a Flygon! You belong in the desert!"
Vie flinches. "But Hale doesn't want to come to the desert. And we know how to hunt in the forest!"
"Well I don't." He stands up. "If that's all you came for, you can be on your way. I have to go hunt. In the desert."
"Go hunt?" Vie hisses. "For these Lyrl Flygon? Is that how you're gonna spend your life, boxed up in this cage? We could go defeat the Salamence with the help of others!"
"Do you really think you'll make a difference?" He says bitterly. "Our parents will still be dead. All you have is more dead dragons."
"But I can stop more deaths. At least I'm not just feeding other Flygon that are so interested in the human technology and-"
"Technology that can save us from future Salamence attacks. Vie, this conversation is over. I need to go see Cole and his mate, and I need to go hunt. I don't have time to waste on your silly little philosophy that you developed with your friends who obviously know more than everyone else."
Then he simply walks off. Vie stares after him.
"Vie?" I walk up to her. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," she replies and shrugs it off. "Let's go back to the forest and make a plan to kill the Salamence," she says darkly, unsettling me.
"…Now? Aren't you gonna see other people?"
"I've already seen them. I just found Bane. Probably shouldn't have. Where's Rue and Silex?"
"Rue's over there," I point to where a few other Flygon have gathered. "And I thought Silex was with you."
"I'm here," Silex says from behind me. "Want to leave already?"
Vie nods and walks towards Rue.
"…so I basically knock my head into them to use my tusks-"
"Rue, we're going," Vie says.
"What? But we've only been here for like-"
"Long enough. If we leave now we could get back tomorrow morning. Faster."
Vie drags Rue away as Rue continues her complaints and waves a quick goodbye to her new friends. On one hand I think Rue's still massively curious about this place and she'd like to stay but on the other hand I don't really care and I want to fly already.
Rue is a lot grumpier on the way back at not getting her way but I'm also a lot more resilient to her nagging. Nothing much is said the night we rest and we arrive at the forest quite quickly.
Phendrene is elated to see me again when we land in the clearing. Truth to be told, I feel more relaxed with Phendrene, since I don't have to worry about what I say, even if she can be somewhat nagging at times.
Like now. "Can we go to the Charizard's place now?" she asks immediately as we start eating.
"Not yet, let me rest a bit!" I respond.
"Yeah, it'd give us more leads on how to get the Salamence," Vie adds in.
"What happened to her this time?" Hale asks, nudging me with his elbow.
Vie responds for me. "We have to prove Bane wrong. He said we won't make a difference. We definitely will."
"And how are you gonna do that?" Rue says from aside. "Fly into Salamence territory and get captured?"
"I don't know. But we'll figure something out," Vie says confidently.
"You could go ask Spire, he probably knows stuff about the Salamence," I add in.
Vie stares at me for a moment. "Good point, call him here."
I wasn't expecting that response. "Uh, now?"
"Yes. We can't waste more time sitting around."
"All right."
I wander off to find Spire's tree, except he's not there. But it only takes a little more effort to track down the large blue body through the trees.
"Spire!" I call out.
"Oi! I was hunting!" He shouts back angrily. "Now you scared it away! What do you want?"
"We have food. Can you come over?" I ask.
"What for?"
"Vie wants to ask you for ideas on how to kill the Salamence King," I explain.
"I thought she didn't like me."
"Me too, but you can still help, right?"
"Fine, I can help."
Spire comes quite eagerly into the clearing, and quickly takes up all the attention.
"You!" Vie shouts at Spire. "What do you know about the Salamence?"
Spire laughs. "Let me eat something first." He picks off a piece of meat from off the ground and no one stops him. "What don't I know about the Salamence?" he announces in a smug tone. His voice is also muffled by his chewing, which makes it a lot more comical.
Vie stares at his face. "Okay, so how would we defeat them?"
"What do you mean by 'defeat'? Kill the King? Enslave them all?"
Vie stops for a bit. It is obvious that she didn't think this through. "Okay, so if we killed the King, would that stop the Salamence from attacking us?"
"Probably. There aren't any male heirs at the moment, as far as I know. There would be Salamence vying for the King's position if he were to be killed."
"And how do you know that?" Hale asks.
"Because I used to live under the King's rule?" Spire responds with impatience, his eyes turning towards Hale. "Why else?"
"Okay, okay," Vie says, her hands gesturing them to calm down. "Back to the important part. How would we kill him? Where does he live? Does he have guards?"
"He lives in a palace that is pretty well guarded. And he's-"
"Wait, a palace?" Rue interrupts. "How does he live in a palace?"
"Go ask him yourself! What makes you think I know?" Spire responds again, getting more agitated.
"So how well guarded is it?" Vie ignores the interruption and continues to ask questions. "Would it be possible to say, sneak in at night?"
"Not a chance. Even if some of the guards were dozing off you'd have to navigate through the palace. Although if you managed to catch him by himself, it would be fairly easy, as he doesn't know how to fight."
"But that's so mean!" I shout out. "You can't just go up to someone and kill… them…" I trail off as I notice both Vie and Spire staring at me.
"Have you forgotten about our parents, Nova?" Vie questions me. "Do you want more people to lose their families all because the Salamence are evil dragons that like to kill?
"But the King has a family too! Right?" I say to the Salamence before me. "Spire?" I ask him again but he seems lost in thought. "Spire!"
"Oh, he does. But it doesn't matter. …I had a family once, too." He grumbles. "So he deserves it. But it is unlikely that you'd get to him through the guards. Unless you can rally a lot of allies, that plan is not going to work."
"Is there any other way that we can kill him?"
Phendrene tugs on my arm. She looks uncomfortable. I feel a bit uncomfortable too, with all this morbid talk about murder.
"Let's go flying," she whispers to me.
"Okay."
She jumps onto me, arms latching around my neck, and I simply take off into the air, not even trying to be discrete.
Since I've just flown for two entire days, it doesn't feel special. But Phendrene's a lot warmer than Rue, and also a lot less bothersome. She simply holds on tight and leans her head in. It's comforting.
I decide to land on the top of the hill to rest for a while, and for a chance to talk with Phendrene too. She slides off of me but still leans on my side, watching the wide expanse of leafy canopy.
"They're scary," she says. "I don't know why they want to kill the King. It wouldn't bring Mum back."
"I know," I answer her. "But I guess they can do whatever they want."
She looks up at me. "Even killing? You'd let them?"
I shrug. "I'm not sure. Salamence seem a bit detached to me. They're on four legs, and their face just looks mean," I admit
"But you like Spire. You'd be sad if Spire got killed, right?"
"I suppose I would. But you all kill other Pokémon to eat all the time. So if that's okay, what's wrong with killing the Salamence King?"
"That's different. They're not dragons. You eat, too!"
Here we go again.
"I still don't like eating other Pokémon."
"But you'd die if you don't eat anything. And I don't want you to die."
That's a straightforward way to put it. "Okay."
We stare off into the distance in silence. Even though it's not the coldest time of the year, Phendrene's warmth along with being away from the others makes me relax much more.
"Nova, who's going to go with us? To the Charizard's place?" she asks after a while.
I haven't thought about it, because I only brought up the idea in the first place as a means to placate Phendrene and not something serious. But given their fanaticism with the Salamence, they shouldn't care about the Charizard much. I'd have to convince them that it might be potentially useful.
Or I could just leave them here. Silex will be enough to make sure we're fed properly. The journey will just be a lot quieter if it's us three.
"Silex will agree to come for sure. I don't know if the others will come – Rue's probably interested, but Vie and Spire might not care. But we'll go anyway, for you."
"Thanks," she says as she buries her face into my side. "I just want to know… What are the other Charizard are like? … I don't remember too much from when I was young. If I went, I could learn to breathe fire properly, or even control my tail flame. And deep down, I want to meet someone like me."
I guess it's taken for granted when I'm surrounded by three other Flygon the whole time, but Phendrene, just like Spire and Rue, must feel pretty isolated. Sometimes Vie and Hale are talking about sandstorms while Rue, who's normally the noisiest, sits by quietly. As a Fraxure, she has no other option. But Phendrene…
"Can you fly some more?" she asks me, breaking me from my thoughts.
"Okay."
The sky and wind never got old, but with Phendrene it really does feels different.
When we land again Rue's the only one in the clearing, sorting out some berries. She told us that Spire and Vie got nowhere in discussing what to actually do and actually ended up almost fighting, which they probably would have if Silex didn't stop them. "Seriously, how do you expect six of us to stop an entire species? It's a dumb idea in the first place."
I'm not interested in this whole Salamence King fiasco, so I decide to ask her something else. "Phendrene wants to go on a trip to the Charizard, are you going to come?"
"Huh? Just after we got back from the desert?" she says. "Well, it sounds like fun, if you let me stay there for at least a day or something. Oh, and I might not be able to hunt properly if we're crossing the plains."
"I think Silex will handle that. Where is she?"
"They're all hunting. You should probably just wait for them here. Are you seriously going to let Phendrene stay on you forever?"
"Huh?" I realise that Phendrene is indeed still on my backside. I give her a small nudge.
Phendrene scrambles off me quickly and picks up a berry. "Why berries today?" she asks.
"I just felt like having them after the arid desert," Rue responds. "You can still eat meat if you want."
The other three Flygon come back with the prey and they start eating. I ask Silex if we're allowed to go to the Charizard's place (Novaria, I think it was called) and she agrees as expected.
Upon hearing it, Vie volunteers to go as well. "The Charizard has to have better ideas than that Salamence."
"What happened with Spire?" I ask her.
"I tried to suggest ideas but he just said they all wouldn't work. Why even try, then?" she complains.
"I'm pretty sure they actually wouldn't work though," Rue cuts in. "How would we even get a hypothetical poison to the Salamence King? And really, do you think we could destroy the entire Salamence society with just a few of us? At least have a realistic goal."
"You've never been through anything," Vie says out of spite. "You've just been in this forest your whole life-"
"What do you know?" Rue suddenly lashes out. "You don't know my past. You have no idea what I've been through. Do you even know what it's like to be the only one of your species? No! So shut up!"
They've had their fair share of arguments before but I haven't seen Rue this mad in a long time. Even Vie's not arguing back and just stares at Rue silently.
"Wait," Hale says after a while. "Does that mean I'm the only one who's gonna be here when you guys go to Novaria? With Spire?"
"Yeah," I tell him.
"Then I'm going too. I mean I can help hunt and stuff… It's kind of stuffy with no one to talk to." He glances at Phendrene for a moment, who doesn't notice, as she's too busy playing with my tail. Phendrene still isn't open to others and it must have made Hale bored to be stuck with Phendrene for the last two days.
Silex decides that we'll get a good rest tonight and depart tomorrow morning. As evening falls and she is explaining to the others how hunting in the plains would work, I wander off to find Spire.
He's lying with his head on the ground lazily when I find him. "What is it? Your friend doesn't want me again, does she?"
"No, it's not that. It's just that we're leaving tomorrow morning and I thought I'd tell you."
He suddenly stands up. "Wait, why? And where?"
"Uh, Phendrene wanted to go to Novaria. So we're just heading south-"
"I'm coming."
"Huh?"
"You will stand no chance if you meet the Salamence forces. They have brute power over you Flygon," he states simply. "Unless, of course, you have a Salamence on your side too. I know their weaknesses. And I also know the directions to the Charizard's place."
"I'm not exactly the one you need to convince for you to go on this trip, you know," I remind him.
"Fine. Bring me to them again."
So I do. As Spire comes back into the group Vie glares at him from whatever fight they got in while I was flying with Phendrene – at least she's not trying to attack him. He explains his reasons, and everyone nods but then looks at Vie.
"Hey, it's not my decision! Ask her, it's her trip," she points to Phendrene, who hides behind me at all the sudden attention directed towards her.
"So, Phendrene," Spire says, enunciating her name carefully, "may I please come on this trip with you?"
Phendrene doesn't say anything but just stays behind me. "I think it's fine. As long as you can keep up with us," I say in place of the timid Charmeleon, feeling quite nonplussed. No one wanted to say anything so I ended up giving him permission, even though I thought I wouldn't be able to.
"Of course I can. So when do we leave?" he asks.
"Tomorrow morning," Silex answers. "Meanwhile, you should come and remember how to hunt in the plains…"
I zone out again and the next thing I know is waking up in the clearing alone. Now that we're all too large Rue's the only one that goes back to her shelter (unless it's raining, in which case all of us try and cram in). They should be hunting – I can still the warmth in my side that must have come from Phendrene's residual heat. I stretch a bit in the morning sun. Well, if they're all not here I might as well go fly some more.
"Hey, don't waste your energy now," Rue scolds me when I land. "You're gonna have to carry me soon."
"What about Phendrene?" I ask.
"She's going with Silex! Sorry, you don't get to choose, I'm heavier, and you're the better flier, sooo…" She makes a gesture as if something went wrong and it isn't her fault.
"Great. Can you try not to bother me as much this time?"
"But it's boring sitting there!" she exclaims.
"Look at the scenery. Feel the wind. Close your eyes and imagine something. Just don't play with my body, because it's super annoying."
"Oh fine."
We eat a big meal in the morning, and then head off. Almost immediately, Rue shouts in my ear telling me to slow down, and as I turn my head back I realise Vie and Hale are falling behind. Spire was telling the truth, he does fly faster than them – not as fast as Silex or me, though. Still, I slow down, and just watch the ground as the trees become sparser and sparser. Foreboding builds within my heart.
Time to discover a new land.