There is a vibrant, blue sky. A few fluffy white clouds float by peacefully.
Turning my head to the side, I glance over at messy ground. With a quick swipe I clean the scattered dirt up onto the edge of a mound.
I don't remember how I fell asleep last night. I was trying to focus on practicing but I became too tired. I was on the slope of the mountain.
Mountain?
I push myself up and glance around. I'm lying on a hill. Directly below me is a valley extending downwards, the grass waving in the morning sun. But in the other direction of that is a steep slope that extends far up, the terrain becoming much more rocky and hazardous. Not that it would matter to me.
Still, I didn't think I would come this far. I wonder if I… teleported?
The revelation doesn't shock me as much as the previous ones. I simply stand up straight, stare at the hills in the distance, breath deeply, and focus my mind, telling myself to simply be over there.
There's a vague sensation that something is tugging on my body, but my head starts to hurt so I shake it clear with my eyes closed. What did I grow these wings for? I definitely just flew over. Stop getting ahead of yourself, Nova.
As I leap into the air to stretch out my muscles, I let myself admire the sight. Being on top of the world and glancing down? It's truly something to behold. But perhaps I was a little rash in my decision to come here. Looking backward, I realise this is probably where the Salamence came from, and if they were to find me asleep… Well, now that I'm awake I'm pretty sure I could simply fly away or maybe use them as telekinesis practice.
No, that's not nice, Nova, don't think like that.
The sun's actually quite bright already and distracts me, but I can still spot a stream. Following along it, I reach back to the cliff where it cascades down from a waterfall.
I look back at the mountains. It didn't feel that far since it only took a few minutes, but now I can barely tell apart which hill I had slept on.
However, I falter and me cheerful mood is interrupted as I prepare to push the door open. I can hear voices from inside. The existence of all the others brings me back to reality, and reminds me of what happened yesterday.
I suddenly feel afraid. Do I have to be away from everyone to feel happy again? To think that I used to find myself bored without company…
No more doubts! I might as well just starve to death if I'm not willing to meet them again. I steel my will and just push the door open. The sunlight shines inside and grabs most of their attention, and there's suddenly silence.
I feel uncomfortable.
"Nova!" Vie exclaims the loudest, and rushes over, dropping a piece of leg of whatever she was eating to the ground. "What happened?" She holds on to my hand and tugs me in. "Where were you last night?"
"I… Uh…" I feel very uncomfortable. "I just fell asleep outside."
"That's dumb. What if some Salamence found you?" Vie says, worried.
"I don't know." I walk in further and sit down on the inside.
"Here," she says and hands me another piece of meat. "We were going to seach for you!"
"We?" A Haxorus' voice sounds. "Speak for yourself."
"Come on, Rue," Hale says. "It's a new day."
"What did I do? He's the one that's all emotional."
I glance up and realise she's actually wrong. There's not much emotion in me right now. More like apathy. I'm just going to eat and get back to my practice. I don't care what she thinks.
"But please don't do that again," Vie says gently.
"I'll try."
I glance upwards briefly to see the Salamence looking straight at me before I redirect my vision to the ground. Don't get angry anymore. Just ignore those ones. Vie is being nice, I'd feel bad if I were to walk out on her.
"When he went to check on Fly, he heard you, so…"
The Dratini's name is Fly? Probably some strange Dragonite translation. Sky's name isn't really just Sky, it's just when he speaks to us that he uses it for convenience. Speaking of names, though… I have something I can't just ignore, even if I don't feel like speaking. Not after he made that big of a deal out of it.
"Spire," I call in a quiet voice, "What's the big deal? What did you tell Sylar? What's with… Blight's name?"
He perks up immediately, somewhat tense. "Salamence business."
"Don't bother," the Haxorus says. "We asked already. Although considering you're Nova, you'd have a good chance, except you're being-"
"Then why didn't you tell Era?" I question further.
"I don't know," the female Salamence answers and goes back to eating.
I turn my gaze to Sylar, who just sits there without speaking.
"Okay, you don't have to tell us anything, but if you're not eating can you go inside or get out?" Rue shouts and points at Sylar. "There's no extra space in here."
"…Fine." He waddles through the crowd and exits, and Spire drops his food and follows closely behind him.
"Stop following me! I know what you said!" Sylar's shout comes from outside. Spire comes back in and picks up his dropped food on the way, looking annoyed.
Soon, Era follows Sylar outside, and Spire ends up leaving his food and running out again. I wonder what kind of thing it is big enough to make Spire act like this. Though the other two Flygon don't seem to care much, Rue glares at Spire's tail as it leaves the cave.
"Stupid Salamence. Hey you, you don't know what's going on, right?" She shouts to the last Salamence in the room, who I try to ignore.
"No. I just know… Spire from before. That's all." He also shifts slightly. "I'd like to know what's so important about my name as well."
"For a first, make something better than Blight," Vie scoffs. "It's like you want to be called a villain or something."
"Hey, that's not cool," Hale says.
"I think it suits him," I comment as I finish off the piece of meat, standing up and preparing to leave. But something grabs my tail. I turn back and it's the Charmeleon. I didn't even notice she was here.
"Nova, don't say that!" She walks closer to me. "Didn't you tell me…" I know she's referring to her own father, but no one else knows, so she's not saying it out loud.
"Fine. I won't. Let me go flying," I say in a forced tone. "It's not like I'm flying because of him. I'm flying because I like flying," I repeat.
Phendrene lets go hesitantly, and I leap out the door and leap out into the skies, before anyone can say anything else.
Smiling at my freedom, I come to the realisation that all of this embarrassment and discomfort would be saved if I could simply hunt for myself and leave forever.
But to leave everyone? Would I really do that? …Do our years of friendship mean nothing now that he's here?
It's nothing I need to worry about now. The sun feels quite nice. I fly above the cliff, ignoring the other dragons below and curl up beside a tree. I find that I am able to relax on the warm ground, especially now that I have a full stomach. I'll just ignore everyone, even if they come to find me. It's not like anyone can drag me down the cliff.
"Nova!" Vie has flown up again. I become irritated.
"Leave me alone," I tell her and bolt upright. "Or I'm flying away."
"Calm down!" Vie shouts and leans forward to grab onto my hand, but I dodge it easily.
"Fine. Bye," I leap backwards and glide towards the mountains at my top speed. Everything seems so peaceful there, just like this morning. If only I could live by myself, alone in the wilderness…
Why can't I just hunt? Every single other dragon – every other predator on earth does it and I still can't, because of my stupid empathy.
But as I hate to say it, I like my empathy. It would scare me if the Growlithe suddenly dies and I don't care. It makes me feel like I'm the only one who has any morals.
The mountain is back in view and I feel quite sure that no one would reach me here on this steep valley which gradually goes up in a slope to the mountains. It's the perfect place to take my mind off things like Spire acting weird, or Phendrene being whiny, or the other stuff… well, if I think about it, it wouldn't be taking my mind off it. So I just continue my practice. Lift some rocks here, lift some dirt there, fly over to where the stream comes down from the mountains and play with water. Time passes quickly and I can feel my power becoming more and more refined. A smile finally comes to my lips as I make a little spiral pattern in the ground.
But I'm hungry soon. I lie on the hill, staring at the sky, and contemplate whether I should head back. Probably – skipping meals isn't very healthy, and although I know nothing about how psychics work I'm still sure it would expend a lot of energy. Then again, I don't want to endure everyone's derision again.
Speaking of Salamence, I see one of them flying towards me. I have no idea how to tell any of them apart so I just sit up and wait for the dragon to approach.
"What do you want?" I ask as the Salamence flies close, but there is no response as the Salamence simply gets closer. Faster, and faster. I'm stunned as it lunges at me and pushes me to the ground.
"What are you doing here?" it commands. I'm still shocked from the pain of falling to the ground. "This is Salamence territory!"
I don't recognise him.
"Answer me!" It gives a loud bellow and slashes its claw on my chest. My breath stops in an instant as I let out a gasp.
I feel faint.
"Mute? We don't need more Flygon subjects anyway." His claw midair, about to swipe my neck, when in a last attempt I raise my hand to his.
"What the-"
With the strongest push I can muster, I push him off with my force, and keep him hovering with my arm extended out. But I instinctively let go when I move my arm to clutch my wound. As I stumble backwards, I feel something dribble out of the corner of my mouth.
I'm so sorry.
Huh?
There's another roar, and the Salamence comes to attack again. But this time, my arm is ready and I stop him before he gets close.
"What…?" he whispers as I fling him to the side.
But it's not strong enough. I just stand there as I watch him readjust his position… I want to fly and escape. But I can't. I just used my powers on someone else. I look down… My claws look so innocent. They're unused at all. Who'd know these aren't for fighting, but for…
I wipe the edge of my mouth and look at my arm. It's red. It's my own blood. Blood…
Wake up.
A shadow appears and I look up. There are more Salamence, forming a circle around me. Why? How long have I been here?
A few land and seem wary of approaching me. But I barely can focus my mind on them, with a dull pain in my chest and the blood. They're dangerous. I thought they weren't. I thought I could just fly away.
"Keep him alive," a commanding voice says. My mind registers that it's female. A subordinate readies a stance. It takes my mind off everything, if only for an instant, to steel my will.
Why am I not flying away? My mind feels like it snaps clear and I realise the severity my situation. If I don't escape right now, with this many of them, they can get me easily. I might be captured or even straight-up die.
I stare desperately back in the direction of the cliff. Oh, how stupid of me was it to come over here. And to not realise the Salamence wasn't friendly when he wasn't even coming from the right direction.
I swipe my free arm at the approaching Salamence and he ricochets off from midair, barely breaking into flight in time to avoid hitting the hillside.
Another Salamence roars and lunges towards me, but I repel him as well. I grit my teeth as I turn around and see even more Salamence coming.
Go and fly! I spring my legs into the air, my wings moving weakly. I hear a Salamence try to lunge but it falls short. My heart skips.
The blood dripping down to the ground doesn't help my focus or sanity. But the Salamence shadows keep me moving.
The world blurs and my eyes can't focus. I try to blink but I can't keep focus. The ground closes at an alarming rate and I use the remainder of my energy to try and soften the inevitable impact.
…
…
…
Dim light. Simple ceiling. My eyes focus with difficulty. I'm back on one of Fen's beds this time in the main room.
I push myself up. There's still some pain in my chest. I look downwards and realise that I'm lucky the Salamence's claw slid off to the side. It feels like a surface wound that caused some bleeding but no internal trauma.
Suddenly I notice the sound of breathing next to me. I find Phendrene sleeping between me and the wall, her arms grabbing onto my tail in her sleep. Then there is Vie and Hale on the other two main-room beds. They are all fast asleep. I glance around the room and realise the female Salamence must have moved inside as well. Why are not sleeping in the private rooms? To look over me?
I can't wriggle out of Phendrene's grasp, so I just shift outward and take a glance at the window.
It's dark?
I shouldn't have been out that long. It wasn't even a major injury. Why did I think so again? Right, because I coughed up blood…
Or did I? Now that I have a clear mind, I feel a small but sharp pain on my tongue. I'd bitten it in panic. At the time, the pain was so insignificant compared to the fear.
I feel weak and sit back down on the bed. I'm so stupid. First I let that Salamence approach and get a hit on me – I was lucky that wasn't the neck – and then I blank out because I thought I got injured enough to cough up blood, and then I faint after I've escaped to safety simply because there was some of it dripping…
What's the point of practicing if all I do when I see anything hostile is to tremble in fear and pass out? I barely even escaped. If that Salamence had hit harder, or if they weren't hesitant at my powers and swarmed me all at once…
I look at my arm and see a faint blood mark. It's so trivial. I've seen the others in worse condition after their friendly battles.
After we met and fought them that first time, I should have realised that the outside world was dangerous. Even Phendrene had me worried when she was injured. But that Blight appearing and these psychic powers just made me forget everything. I was too careless to even fend for myself; I know I could have easily gotten away if I anticipated the attack, but I just let my guard down.
I want to find a way to blame someone else again, but I can't. No one's at fault but myself. And I must have made everyone worry.
There's just no way out of this mess, is there? Silex's gone, Spire and Sylar are acting secretive, Rue and Phendrene are both annoying, and he's here. I might as well go find that Growlithe again and live with her.
I need to go to the stream to wash the blood off, anyway. I turn around and think of a way to get out of the Charmeleon's grasp. If I used my hands to break her grip, she'd probably wake up. So I only gesture my arm towards it, and lightly use telekinesis to move her hands apart, and move my tail away immediately.
She frowns in her sleep but before I can note if she is waking, I already dart out of the door and into the night sky. The moon has been smothered by clouds, but the stream is easy enough to find by sound alone.
I land and stand in the stream, it going up to my waist. I splash some cold water up to my chest but the coldness and the pain from the skin wounds make me shiver.
Another splash of water and I think I've had enough. It's not a particularly warm location compared to the desert or the forest, which is on top of being wet. The more south you get, the more cold it gets. Touching the injury isn't good for me, anyway.
"Are you Nova?"
The voice surprises me as I slip and fall face first into the stream. I levitate myself out immediately and onto the bank, wet and tense.
"Sorry." It's the strange accented child voice. Dratini. "Are you my brother?"
Blight must have told him about me. I can't get mad at him, so I answer properly. "Yes. I am your brother." Saying it out loud seems to impact me more, because I suddenly have the desire to know him. So I set up and glance at the surface of the stream, from which he is poking his head out.
"Why don't you like Papa?" he asks in an innocent tone reminding me of the Growlithe.
"He… wasn't there for my Mama." I feel obliged to use the same names as him. "My Mama was killed by the Salamence." Somehow, saying it makes me feel funny instead of sad. Like I'm a small child again.
"Oh. That's bad. Papa should have been there," the Dratini comments.
"Yeah, he should have," I affirm.
"I will scold him for you," he says, and I smile. Somehow, talking to this Dratini makes me feel a lot better. Knowing that he has no ulterior motives, I feel at peace.
A gentle breeze blows by, which would have felt nice if I were back in the forest, but instead I feel cold.
"Sorry for interrupting your sleep," I say. "I need to go back now. Good night."
"Good night," he answers back.
More like good morning, but I give him a small wave before he disappears under the water. I can't help the smile creeping up onto my face. I have to spend more time with these children. But now, I'm alone, so I can practice my powers.
By now, I'm able to lift up significant masses of material, whether it is dirt or rocks. I'd actually like to try on sand. I think Flygon can manipulate sand without any innate psychic ability, but I never got to the point of learning it, because I'd never lived in the desert as a Flygon. Maybe I'll be extra proficient at it.
Where did it come from, anyway? Silex gave it to me? No, she was surprised when she found out, too. Inherited from one of my parents? Sounds more likely.
Maybe that's what Sylar knew? That Blight was some psychic back in the Salamence society and Spire's trying to hide it from everyone? But it's not like I can just walk up to them and ask them. It's probably just some crazy theory of mine that's not even true, but I still grasp onto ideas, because otherwise, why do I have these powers?
For now, I think I should just concentrate on practicing them. Although it is getting me slightly ostracised. I should probably make something up to Phendrene, and act on these thoughts rather than just thinking them over and over. She probably had a terrible time these few days, with Silex gone and me ignoring her. Though I don't feel like making anything up to that Haxorus, I probably should too.
What is this obligation to carrying her, anyway? Just because she hunts for us? Other people hunt as well! I guess we're just helping each other, because we're friends. To think that I imagined the scenario of running away forever…
I should be the same person regardless of what happens. I can't imagine blood on my claws from killing someone else, even if it's for food. It still makes me feel that everyone else is vaguely psychotic, even though I should be used to it by now.
As the horizon starts to become brighter, I cease my practice in case someone comes up, and end up flying circles in the air again. I was hoping the Growlithe would come out to take my mind off things, but she isn't here. Oh well.
A Salamence appearing from below the cliff startles me for a second but I recognise the silhouette of Spire easily; he's smaller than the others. He settles down by the stream and I glide towards him.
He's changed as much, if not more, than me in mannerisms after the event. We were just beginning to get him to talk and be more friendly but now he's as distant as ever.
"Spire!" I shout as I land next to him. "Good morning!"
"Hi. I see you're fine."
At least he still talks. "Yeah, it wasn't that big of an injury."
"You still passed out."
"I know. It was the Salamence." I'm trying to think up a way to mention the thing with Sylar but he's done drinking surprisingly quickly.
"I figured. I'm done drinking," he states simply and takes off. I follow him back, somewhat reluctantly.
His mannerisms are not that unfamiliar. He was like this in the forest, but back then he was more bitter and sarcastic. At least that was still an aspect of personality. I wonder if right now he's trying to hold emotion back to stop himself from leaking whatever secret he's hiding.
The room is fairly empty as I enter, with only Phendrene lying on her bed. Vie and Hale must have been called out hunting.
"Why did you leave again," she complains from the bed. I need to stop making her sad. Nothing's her fault.
"Wanna go flying?" I suggest, opting to not answer question.
She stares at me for a moment, but still accepts the invitation by climbing onto my back. Spire doesn't give us a glance as he heads inside.
"Nova…" I hear Phendrene utter from behind me as I walk out. "What happened?
Right, I haven't told anyone what happened yet. "There were a few Salamence. I got careless."
So I ascend to the sky, swerving in the air. The wind does not feel as cold now, with the Charmeleon and also the sunlight is shining on me.
I don't get much time, though, because I hear someone shout "Shiny!" very loudly from below.
I glance and spot the Haxorus in some undergrowth, and glide down to greet her. "Hey! Don't worry, I'm fine."
She grumbles. "I'm not here for chitchat. Now that Silex is gone for some reason it's a lot harder to hunt enough for everyone. So can you not fly around? The prey here doesn't know you don't hunt, so they'd all hide when they see you in the sky."
"Okay, okay. How about I go to the area up the cliff?"
"I would recommend not flying around at all. They can still see you from there. It would be very much appreciated, considering you don't help at all with-"
"Fine." I refuse to let my good mood get destroyed by this bitter Haxorus and fly off before she can make another comment.
So I end up siting back down in the main room with Phendrene. She asks about how I got injured and I just tell her that I thought a Salamence was Spire or Blight, and that I flew away after he attacked me. She pesters me further, but Fen comes out.
"Nova, can I talk to you?" he asks and gestures towards his room.
"Sure?" I answer, wary of what he has in mind. I notice that Phendrene follows me in and closes the door behind me. "What is it? I ask Fen, who is back on his seat.
"I wanted to talk about your father," he says.
I frown. "Did you ask him to?" I say to the Charmeleon beside, me but she shakes her head. "If it's just that, I'm afraid I'm not very interested."
He sighs. "I see. I hope you'll listen to just one thing, because you've heard the rest from other people. It's about him defeating the Hydreigon… he did all of us a favour."
This topic actually piques my curiosity. "What exactly did the Hydreigon do?"
"It was strange. They didn't attack us… They just took in the strongest and brightest members of every other dragon society to serve them, and for some reason they'd have a plethora of other Pokémon to retaliate if we were to reject them. They overruled our normal society," he says and puts some paper back on a shelf.
"Doesn't sound that bad. Couldn't the ones that were selected just run away?"
"Not many dragons live like you and your friends do. Usually they've lived together with others of the same species for their whole lives. Like humans do."
"I still don't see how it's that bad. Did those who got taken away get killed?"
"Not always, but they were in danger, and always serving the Hydreigon's needs instead of their own. Almost like slaves."
"But why?" I ask further. "What did the Hydreigon need?"
"I think your father would know more about the Hydreigon, so you could talk to him," he suggests.
"You're not just saying this in front of Phendrene to make her talk to you, right?" I ask.
Unexpectedly, he laughs. "No, of course not. But your father… he was better than me. That's all," he finishes quickly and goes back to his work.
Phendrene doesn't seem to have reacted much to this conversation she was listening in on, and instead returns to the topic of me getting injured by Salamence. The others arrive soon, bringing food back, with even more questions about my injury.
"Nova!" Vie rushes over. "What happened? Why weren't you here in the morning?"
"Just a Salamence," I tell her. "I thought it was Spire or someone, but it was one from the mountains. I escaped after one hit, so don't worry."
"You fainted, though," Hale says. "Fen said you'd be fine, so we didn't worry."
"That was just panicking far too much," I admit and take a piece of meat. "Anyways, I'll be careful on my future flights. I still fly far faster than them."
"You aren't going to have any future flights here, at least in the recent future," Rue tells me. "We only came back for the Dratini, anyway."
Vie takes a bite of food. "I think if we fly fast we can get to Lyrl in a few days."
"We can probably find more about ways to defeat the Salamence King there," Hale adds in.
"You're what?" Blight interrupts from aside. We all forgot that he was here.
"You don't know?" Rue say. "These Flygon here have a feud with him. You're not loyal to him, are you? In which case we might have to kill you." She laughs.
"…No, I'm not. But wait… why are there Salamence helping you, then?"
"We didn't accept Spire first, either," Hale explains. "He was really insistent that he hated the Salamence as well."
"Oh… well, I can see why," he mumbles and goes back to eating.
"Since you know him, you probably know that his parents got killed, right?" Rue adds in.
"His... parents? Um, well, yes, but I left before that happened, so I don't know the details."
"Right, you went to the desert," the Haxorus recalls.
"And then to the Hydreigon, right?" I chime in, which prompts the others to look at me. "What happened between you and the Hydreigon?" I inquire further.
He seems slightly taken aback at my forwardness. "Uh. I just… defeated them."
"That's vague." I cross my arms. "Could you elaborate?"
"But there's not much to it," Blight says. "It's kind of misleading when everyone says 'the Hydreigon'. There was only one."
"Oh. So what was so dangerous about him, then?" Hale seems to be getting interested too.
"Her. She was-"
"A female?" I interrupt. "Really?"
"Yeah. But what was important is that she had psychic powers," he explains.
"Psychic powers?" He suddenly garners even more of my attention. "I thought Hydreigon have dark powers? Not psychic ones?"
"Yes, but this one was different. She was even stronger than a regular psychic. That's how she could control all the other dragons she enlisted."
"There was mind control?" I ask again, suddenly afraid of my own powers.
"Yeah… Silex taught me how to focus, though. Apparently she had experience from when she was younger."
Silex can teleport and stop time, of course she knows this stuff. "So you're psychic too?" I ask immediately as a follow-up.
"No. You don't have to be a psychic Pokémon to learn how to resist them, as long you have proper training… I got taught some basics when I was younger." He looks up. "But it's mostly useless now. No one has seen any psychics in a while."
I'm a little let down at his answer, but Hale continues speaking to fill in a void I may have left in the conversation. "That's pretty cool. I wish Flygon would have stuff like that, too."
"Oh, it's just… I was in a prestigious family. They had precautions for this type of stuff," Blight explains.
"So Spire learnt it too?" I ask.
"…Probably. Though it really is pointless. Psychics haven't been spotted since that Hydreigon's reign, and although I think a few bug Pokémon can learn those techniques naturally, they're not dangerous. There's no one else to defend against."
Oh you're wrong. Yes there is. Me! But I won't use it on you of course. Just our enemies. But only when I have to. For now, I'll keep it a secret.
"Isn't it good that it turned out useful for the Hydreigon, at least?" Vie chimes in.
"I guess," Blight responds and goes back to eating.
Vie continues. "I have to say, Salamence are really different when it comes to their society…"
I don't know how Vie is getting along with a Salamence. Regardless of the reason, it's better than her going berserk at the sight of them.
Since the conversation has drifted away from the Hydreigon, my interest also wanes. I'm pretty sure they're all satisfied with my compliance for now, so I shuffle over to the person who's usually noisy but staying silent. Phendrene who has been sitting beside me the whole time (I forgot about her again) follows along.
"Rue?" I sit close next to her. "What are you thinking?"
"…Nothing." She glances at me and returns to her food.
"Come on," I nudge her in the side. "Talk."
"So is it really the Salamence?" she asks me.
"Huh? Yeah, they were the ones who attacked me."
"No, I mean what caused you to change so suddenly. You got attacked and was reminded by how grateful you are to have Salamence allies who don't attack you Flygon?" She laughs.
"What? That doesn't make sense," I answer. "I'm just interested in the Hydreigon, that's all."
She sighs. "At either rate, I was worried you were gonna fly off or something. If you could hunt I bet you actually would have, at least for a few days."
I pause. How would she even know? Can she read my mind? Definitely not.
I shake my head and instead turn to questioning her. "Why would I fly off?"
She shrugs her shoulders. "I dunno, you seemed to dislike hanging out with us."
"I just wanted to practice flying," I give a poor excuse.
"Fair enough. So are you going to tell me what happened to Silex now?"
I flinch. "I don't know anything!"
Rue turns her head away from me. "Yeah, I didn't think you were going to."
"Why do you keep thinking I have anything to do with it?"
"I'm not dumb enough to think you know absolutely nothing when you moved as well in that moment she disappeared, while no one else did. And I also actually care about the dragon who taught and helped us so much while the rest of you don't even seem to notice that she's gone."
Listening to her words, it somehow evokes a feeling of guilt. Because what she says is right. Silex had helped us so much and we never even acknowledge her presence.
"Okay," I answer. "I can tell you this much. …She's fine."
She perks up immediately. "So you do know!" she shouts with an aggressiveness that scares me. "Tell me everything."
"Rue? Calm down!" I hear Vie call over from the other side, and as Rue turns to respond it's enough distraction for me to run for the door.
I'm just into the air when I feel something grab onto my tail. A brief glance backwards proves it's the Haxorus. She's not a fragile Phendrene, so I try hard to continue up. And although my tail hurts, it's not enough to stop me as I blitz up the cliff. But soon the weight is too much and I crash at the foot of the hills above the cliff.
"Hyahh…" I look back and see the Haxorus has gotten her tusk stuck in the ground. But that's the least of my worries as I reach back to hold onto my on tail.
At this rate, I'm going to develop a phobia for my tail being grabbed.
When I realise I can simply fly away, Rue has already pushed her face out of the ground and I'm too afraid of letting my tail out. And I can't fly without the balance from my tail. Though who knows? Maybe I could just levitate.
Though it's too late to think that now, with a raging Haxorus on top of me. I try and shuffle back but it's in an uphill direction, and she puts both her arms to the side of my head. I'm almost afraid she's going to fall onto me.
"So! You're cornered now. Now you better tell me the truth. Or else." She's still scary, but somehow I don't feel that afraid right now.
"Or else what? You're going to cut off my tail? Perhaps my wings?"
"I…" she stops herself as she realise she can't just say she will. Because I know she won't.
"You're not going to hurt me." It's oddly exciting, actually. I feel like I'm danger when I know I'm not. Although it is getting a little claustrophobic. "But I'd still appreciate if you get off."
The Haxorus just stares at me. "You'll just fly off."
"I will only if there's still a crazy Haxorus bothering me."
"Well you better get used to this crazy Haxorus, because I'm not going anywhere"
It gets a bit awkward when we stare at each other for so long at such a close distance. And although I know there's absolutely nothing between her and me, if someone flies up at this moment and sees her posture, there's bound to be some explaining to do.
"Switch your position, at least," I tell her. "You're literally on top of me. Other people might see us and think-"
"Wow, you think I would remotely like a little weakling like you?" she bellows back.
"No, but it's just not appropriate! You're an adult female, I'm an adult male, and we're not-"
"Do you think I give a fuck about appropriateness? Tell me what happened to Silex!"
The swearing catches me off guard. But I can't help but feel I'm in the wrong here. …Rue must have really admired Silex, even if she didn't show it much.
"Rue…" I say softly. "Please… trust me. She's fine."
"How can I trust you when you're not even telling me what happened?" she continues, not showing a single sign of relenting.
"I…" I want to tell her but I can't. Everyone will just think I'm a freak. "I can't. I'm so s-sorry." There's a sudden hiccup and I realise I've started crying. Again. I'm such a wuss.
"N-Nova?" Rue's voice is suddenly void of the anger. She shifts herself to the side of me and pushes me away. "…Fine, go fly."
I raise my head. She is trying to look away. I don't get it. Just because I started crying?
But I've been crying too much. Why am I, anyway? No one is dead, or even injured. But… the pressure of everything else is just too much. I really just want to tell her the discovery of my psychic abilities. But no, I can't. They'll all think that I'm some strange freak.
I raise my hand to feel my tears coming out of my goggles. It's just eye water. I need to stop being so emotional.
"I thought you wanted to fly off," Rue grumbles.
"I'm thirsty."
She sighs. "I guess drinking the upstream water is better. All of you fly up but I'm stuck with the one down below. Can you show me?"
I nod, and stand up to head over, blinking to try get the last of the tears away. I can hear her footsteps behind me.
"Wait, Nova!"
"What?" I say and turn my head back.
"Is this the place you landed yesterday?" She runs off and I turn around to follow her.
"Here." She squats at a place where the dirt and the little grass growing on top of it have clearly an indication of being squashed. "This is your blood, isn't it?" She points to a small red-dyed piece of grass.
"Probably? It wasn't that bad, though." I stare at it. It's pretty insignificant.
"I'm not worried about you. I'm worried the Salamence will follow your blood to find us," she says, tensed.
"What? But they would have come by now, wouldn't they?"
"We should still leave. My sense of smell isn't very good and I can still smell it vaguely. I don't know if Salamence are better or worse than you Flygon but we shouldn't take any risks. Who knows if they're planning to do it now." She tugs on my arm. "Come on"
"They should have come… I was dripping a bit of blood from in the air." I suddenly recall the events and realise exactly why they haven't come yet. They're afraid of me. But that could mean that they are planning a big one… "You're right. We should leave now. Climb onto me."
"Okay, but I think we can afford a drink's worth of time…"
"Fine. But be fast. And help get Fly out of the water."
She listens and basically gets just a few big gulps in while calling for the Dratini. He comes with us surprisingly compliantly and Rue then hops onto my back quickly like she's done so many times before. I don't need to use much energy to simply glide down to the tunnel, but I can still feel my heart beating fast.
They've finished eating by now, and with a few loud Haxorus bellows everyone that's available is called to the room. She explains the situation rather quickly such that I don't even pay much attention to it. It takes a little while to sort things out, such as giving Fly to Blight and deciding who will carry Phendrene (Hale volunteers). Rue says she needs to go inside to warn Fen and does so.
"What about the Salamence soldiers?" Hale whispers to Vie.
"Just leave them be. I don't think they're going to attack us," Vie answers.
Within minutes, everyone is ready to fly. The Haxorus climbs onto me easily like she has done so many times, the Dratini is neatly wrapped around Blight's neck, and although Hale has a bit of trouble with Phendrene, they manage to get into a comfortable position. We're all set and rise into the air quickly, heading back towards the forest, with little lament of leaving this place. I just think I'll miss the Growlithe.
I keep in mind to slow myself down so I don't zoom ahead. They'd undoubtedly get suspicious if I'm still able to fly faster than them with a huge Haxorus weighing down on me. Come to think of it, no one took notice of Sky's stray comment about me having psychic powers…
It's a little awkward because of what had just happened, but Rue has stopped making a fuss about Silex. I feel bad, because in a sense she's right, but if anyone were to know…
If he starts crying about it, then it's probably something that he didn't want to happen. I should stop bothering him.
"Rue?" I shout out loud, but she can't hear me over the wind. I turn my head back and she is just resting with her eyes closed against my neck.
He has no reason to want her to disappear … he'd never wish harm on anyone else. It's definitely not his fault.
I almost falter at the realisation of what is going on, but I shake my head and try and focus on the other dragons flying ahead of me.
But I still can't stop thinking about what I just experienced. It is just like those nostalgic dreams I had of myself in someone else's place. I was experiencing their dream as they dreamed. Rue had just evolved, and Fen had just found his daughter. At the time, both of them were likely reminiscing about their pasts.
It's happening again. I'm reading minds.