If you've read my deviantart journal, you would know that I really dislike this story's pacing. It's very slow at the start, and as a result, many readers get turned off from reading it. There isn't even a proper villain yet!
So I told myself that I needed to start making things happening, because when things happen, the story is interesting! I was very excited writing this chapter, as it has an unprecedented amount of action scenes.
I am flying through the sky, through the clouds. The water vapour in the mist tickles my skin. Beside me, she swoops around. I look to her, and see only patches of red as she dives down. I follow her down beneath the clouds and unto the majestic ravine. Her figure lowers into the ravine, before she arrives at the waterfall and flies through it. I head to the elevation that she was at, and instinctively make a shield as the waterfall becomes closer.
"It's time to wake up!" the annoying Haxorus voice sounds. I roll around to her, annoyed. "What is it? I'm sleeping."
She is standing on the beach with her arms crossed. In the background, I can see a Salamence tentatively wading into the water, led on by the Dratini. "We already had breakfast, and you still didn't wake up. Don't you think you've been sleeping a bit too much?"
"I'm tired! How much energy do you think it takes to teleport all of you over here?" I retort as I levitate myself to a standing position. "And now I can't even remember the dream I was having."
After one day of fun with my brother in the ocean (and Father looking out worriedly on the shore), Rue caught me teleporting them back at the Shallows lake. And of course, she would tell everyone and force me to take all of them on a field trip. I remember right after I teleported, that my head started hurting again. At least that time I knew to lie down and stay calm.
"You look like you just went back to dreaming," Rue waves her hand in front of my face. "Wakey wakey!"
"Fine," I concede and step back. "Then stop bothering me. I'm going to practice." I prepare myself to float along the coast, but, she grabs onto my arm.
"Wait! Can I watch?" Rue asks. "It's not a secret anymore, right? So why not practice in front of us?"
I open my mouth only to realise I don't have a good answer. "I'm used to practicing alone," is all I say.
"Time to get used to practicing with me, then," she answers and holds on tighter as I try and pull my arm out of her grasp. "Come on! I just want to see how it works."
"All right, let go." I'm starting to think this is what she really woke me up for.
I gesture my arm down and focus on an area of sand, before pulling a sphere of it up. Some grains leak but I concentrate to stop it from falling. I then throw it into the ocean, suddenly feeling very self-conscious of the pair of curious eyes on me.
"Stop looking at me like that," I complain and sit back down onto the sand. "It distracts me."
"It's interesting, okay? How do you even do that?" She bends down and asks me, her curiosity still not sated. "Do you mutter some secret words or something?"
"No!" I rub my forehead, quite fed up with the stupid questions. "It's like… how you move you arm! You want it to move, and it moves."
"Oooh. That makes sense," she says as she sits down beside me. "But wait, why do you have to move your arm with it?"
"The gesture helps my mind get a feel of what it's trying to do," I give my best guess. "Is there still food? I'm a bit hungry," I admit, now that my mind is getting clearer.
"Okay. Hale!" she yells and stands up. "They went flying again, didn't they? Hold on, I have to find where they put it," she says and runs towards the campsite with a fire. I've been sleeping on the edge, mainly because I fall asleep far too early as they are still gathered around Phendrene's tail for warmth. I'm not sure why, but I've never felt it was that cold. Maybe because I have subconscious insulation.
They do all seem to like it here, at least. Fly obviously loves the ocean, and by extension Blight. The others, even the Flygon twins, were all quite sick of the desert. I have shown them through the woods, which are very different from the forest we've been in – the trees are sparser and the terrain is a lot more uneven. The Haxorus cannot even traverse through, as she can't climb up the huge ledges. We even had a mini-trip up the mountains, with Rue, Phendrene, Vie, and Hale. Spire was too lazy, and Blight was tending to my brother. But everyone except Rue and I started complaining about the cold and we had to come back down. It was a shame, especially because this side has little risk of Salamence. They only have a few outposts. That's what Aya told me, anyway.
…Aya. I've still kept her a secret, other than what I revealed to the Haxorus on that day. The whole entire experience felt too strange from my usual routine that it was like an illusion that never happened. But it was definitely real. I close my eyes and remember her touch, her scent, her voice. And I remember everything that she taught me about fighting, in a way I never knew we could fight. Using energy pulses and breaths… it seems like a rather large advantage over fighting with our claws and tusks.
"I leave you here for a few minutes and you fall back asleep?" Rue's voice disrupts my train of thoughts. I open my eyes and look up at her offering a piece of meat. "Here."
"Thanks," I say and take a bite after receiving it. "I wasn't sleeping, just thinking," I explain.
"About her?" Rue asks with a laugh. "You know, that Flygon that you-"
Don't. I send a firm message into her mind.
She stifles her laugh and sits down. "Sorry. So back to telekinesis. What's your limit? I remember you holding that Flygon leader. Oh, that was pretty awesome. I thought we were screwed back there. I knew it was a terrible idea from the start, but I guess we couldn't just leave those two to die. But hey, at least it made you reveal your psychic powers, right? I have to admit, you were pretty badass for how you normally act."
I don't bother answering her question as she goes off rambling, but speak when she finally stops. "I don't care what I look like. Do you even think of the consequences? Now none of us can even go back to Lyrl."
"I know, but what can we do about it? What's happened has happened. Vie and Hale were worrying about if they'd get to meet their brother again. But the oldest brother, which was the one that was with you guys when you arrived in the forest I think, visited us at the Shallows, which made them feel better." She starts to play with the sand and shuffle it around. "I was pretty wary but they seemed to sort it out fine. No Lyrl Flygon ever came to bother us."
I did not know about Bane coming to visit. The person I've talked most with after returning is Phendrene, and she probably deemed it unimportant. To be fair, no one else knows Bane. Good to see those two getting along with their brother, at least.
"Hey, talking about your psychic abilities is cool and all, but I want to see more!" the Haxorus prompts and stands up. "Show me!"
I levitate myself upright again to match her stature, even if I'm still shorter. "What else? You've seen me use telekinesis and teleport. So unless you want me to read your mind, there isn't much."
"How much material can you hold using your psychic grip?" she asks, seemingly ignoring me. "Like… can you hold me up right now? Try it!"
"Uh… maybe." I take a step back and swipe my arm, willing Rue to go up. She does with a yelp, but only slightly, and I start to feel uncomfortable so I put her back down. "No, I don't think so."
"So then, how did you hold up that Flygon?" she asks, resting her chin on her hand. "He didn't seem that light…"
"I'm not sure, but it seems like I always can when I really need to," I tell her. "There was one time I didn't work, where I was in a Salamence's cave…" I realise what I mentioned and stop talking immediately, clutching my arm again, now acutely aware of the limitations of my powers. I'm not invincible, after all. It was only a fantasy.
"So it's like when I battle with Vie and Hale, I suppose," she says and shrugs. "I never use my full strength, because not only will it cause grievous harm to them, but also tire me out. But your telekinesis is pretty safe if controlled," she reasons and beckons me. "Come on, try lifting me up. Pretend I'm your enemy. Ready?"
Not waiting for me to answer, she pushes me down to the floor and leaps onto me. Reflexively, I hold her up just before she lands and fling her aside as she lands with a loud skidding noise and a grunt of pain.
"Sorry!" I yell and look over. She pushes herself up, scratches on her body side. Yet she doesn't say anything, and instead runs over.
"Rue, you-" I stop the instant I realise she is trying to attack me, and swipe her to the side so that her charge barely misses me. "You're trying to battle with me, aren't you?" I blurt out as I watch her fall onto the sand yet again.
"Correct!" she shouts and stands back up. "Didn't take you that long to figure out, eh? You're pretty smart. But are you strong?" she taunts, and steps closer with a fist heading straight towards me. I levitate myself up into the air immediately and she misses again. Levitating myself is a lot easier than trying to control someone else, I realise.
"You're not allowed to just fly!" Rue complains, looking up at me. "Vie and Hale aren't allowed to do that, either."
"I didn't even agree to a battle," I state flatly and look down at her.
"Oh come on! I'm the one suffering here," she argues and raises her hands in disagreement. "And doesn't it help you as well? We can't have you randomly not being able to lift people if the time calls for it. This is why we battle. So we get better."
She finishes her statement panting, and I find myself agreeing with her. I have been far too overconfident with my abilities, and would have easily been captured if not for Aya protecting me. Now that I have conveniently found a method of combat that suits me, I need to reliably fight as a combatant, instead of relying on emotions.
"I'm still allowed to dodge by levitating myself, though," I answer. "Otherwise it would be unfair."
"Okay, but you're not allowed to stay in the air for more than three seconds," she gives me a compromise.
"Deal," I respond and lower myself to the floor. "You know I can do more than fling you around, right?" I add with a smirk.
"Then show me," she says and charges at me again. Instead of dodging it, I ready an energy pulse in my mouth and let it out in her face. It's a small one, because I didn't have to charge it, but it still stops her in her tracks.
There is a loud coughing noise. "W-what was that?" she asks, panicked. I don't answer and instead trip her over with a simple manipulation of earth.
I step over next to her. "I'm not just a psychic. I'm still a Flygon," I say from above her. There's a forbidden sense of superiority as I stand over the one who could have been called the alpha in our group.
But a grasp on my leg tells me I've been too careless. I reflexively take to the air, but with a Haxorus hanging off my foot. I'm troubled at first, because it hurts quite a lot, but then I think of a devilish plan. I spread my wings and relax myself, gliding towards the ocean, until I lower myself sufficiently and drop into it.
The cold water is rather refreshing as I right myself and stand in the shallow shore. A moment later, a Haxorus surfaces.
"What the hell were those skills? They were totally psychic!"
"Not. One is the pulse of a dragon, and one is the power of the earth," I answer simply and swim towards her.
"Sounds pretty psychic to me," she says and wipes some water off her face.
"Fighting isn't all about claws, teeth, and tusks. They are all close range attacks, which can be easily dodged." I hold onto her hand and drag her to the shore, slightly worried that she may get too cold. "We can agree to not fly when practicing you. But when you're fighting actual Salamence, or anyone else, they won't care. You should practice, too."
She sighs. "I can't." I'm about to retort when I realise her tone isn't defiant, but vulnerable. "I know what you are talking about. We Haxorus… aren't very gifted in that department." She lets go of my hand and runs forward out of the water. "But you underestimate me!" she roars, eliciting strange looks from aside. "If it weren't for your psychic manipulation, I'd have hit you every time! No one else has your levitation or your telekinesis! Fight me without them!"
"No one else has your tusks, either," I answer as I wade out of the water. "And you still wouldn't beat me," I add with a smug grin.
"Oh really!" she runs at me again, and I begin to charge an energy pulse again. But as I release it, she swerves around, dodging it completely. The next thing I know is that I have a Haxorus on top of me with her sharp tusk right against my neck. I freeze, not daring to risk the chance of sliding against this sharp tusk.
"Rule one of fighting: never get careless," she says, staring me straight in the eye. "Don't ever try less hard because you think you are better than your enemy. It might just be the end of you." She gets up, but is still sitting on top of me. "Still think physical moves are useless, eh?"
"Um, behind you-" My warning was too late. The Charizard crashes into the Haxorus and they both go tumbling across the ground, just short of the water. Phendrene doesn't flinch, though, and pins Rue to the ground. "Don't you dare!" she shouts threateningly and breaths a small puff of fire in Rue's face.
With a surge of strength, Rue pushes herself against the sand to propel the two of them into the water, which makes Phendrene yelp and take flight to me. "Nova, are you all right?" she asks.
"Silly Charizard!" Rue shouts from the shallow water. "Nova agreed to it!"
Phendrene glares at Rue. "He agreed to you sitting on him?"
"Phendrene, calm down," I tell her as I pat her on the back. "We're just battling."
"You battle?" Phendrene asks, incredulous.
"Of course!" I say with a grin. "Rue can't even beat me, so don't you worry."
"I. Just. Did." The Haxorus walks out of the water and next to us. "Just because I didn't slice your neck open doesn't mean I didn't beat you."
Phendrene gives a seething hiss. "Don't you dare say that," she says to Rue, hostile.
"Calm down!" I stroke her on the neck to get her attention. Sometimes I forget that she is just a kid that evolved early. "Rue is just joking."
"Yeah, I can't believe Nova has more sense than you," the Haxorus adds, making me glare at her, especially because I just talked in her defence. But she just laughs and walks away. "I better leave now, or that Charizard will tear me up for taking the attention of her dear Nova."
If Phendrene was embarrassed, angry, or otherwise affected in any way from Rue's comment, she doesn't show it. "Are you feeling better? You were frowning in your sleep," she says as she holds my hand.
"I was?" I don't remember the dream having me in pain or distress of any sort. "I can't even remember. Don't worry about me so much! Do you think I would let that Haxorus do whatever she wants to me?"
"Let's go flying," she murmurs and leans in.
"All right," I answer, and drag her into the air. I see a smile grow onto her face as she spreads her wings and takes control of herself.
I have not been flying as much as I used to. Most of the time, I was occupied by people asking questions. Sometimes it was about my psychic power, sometimes it was about Silex, and sometimes it was about what I was doing when I was away. The last one, I tended to avoid answering, and soon they all learned to not talk about it.
But now, whenever I fly, Phendrene always tries to accompany me. Since our first flight together at Fen's place, she has learned more precise patterns from her father's books, and taught them to me. Right now, we are swirling around each other in a spiral, a move that is easy to execute but difficult to perfect. We have to move in a perfect circle around one another, lest the paths become haphazard. I suppose it is more of my responsibility since I can levitate myself onto the correct path, but I have never been one to associate flight with restraint.
And that is hardly my favourite move. As we fly away inland, Phendrene closes in to my side, and offers a hand. This one, we dance around each other together, grasping onto each other. The feeling of an anchor in our hands, even if it is a false one, gives us a swooping momentum as we swing above and below each other.
A Flygon figure suddenly appearing in my peripheral vision distracts me and I let go to take a better look. With the light skin, I realise it's Vie or Hale coming up.
"What is it?" I descend upon the Flygon. "You came up for us, right?"
"You two scare away the prey," Vie says, thought not with much blame. "It's fine, though. You two looked great up there, by the way," she adds. "Finally learned from professionals?"
"I just took some Charizard dance moves from my father's resources," Phendrene exclaims with a cheer in her voice as she comes down from behind me. "Do you really think it's good?" she asks again and moves closer, eager for confirmation.
"Yeah, it's much better than Nova's circling around by himself," Vie explains and eyes me with a cheeky smile. I'm a little offended, but I say nothing. "All right, I'll have to continue hunting. It'd be great if you two could stay near the beach, to not scare away prey."
"All right," Phendrene answers. "Come on, Nova!" she calls and swoops off into the distance.
"Have fun with her," Vie says and dives back down through the loose canopy.
It's strange. I would expect Vie to tell Phendrene off for not hunting. Ah, Phendrene's just a child. We'll entertain her antics for a while more.
I take off after the fascinating tail of fire. The way it moves in tandem with her wing beats is quite mesmerizing.
I shake my head and concentrate on my own flight. Speeding myself ahead below the Charizard, I pop up in front to greet her, only to have her grab onto me and almost throw my levitation off. For a brief moment, I hold our bodies up with levitation, but then it becomes strange.
"Why are you staying on me? You're not a Charmeleon anymore. You have your own wings."
She raises her head. "I can pretend." With that, she pushes herself off me and begins her own flight again.
I look at her figure with a strange nostalgia. For me, flying with her as a Charizard is definitely better. Yet perhaps for her, she would rather relax on my back with her eyes closed, instead of having to do all the work with her wings.
But that's part of growing up. Mum's death forced me to become independent. My absence clearly didn't do the same to her. As the youngest among all of us (except Fly, who doesn't get that much attention outside of my father and me), she is mollycoddled quite a bit.
"Nova, you coming?" Phendrene calls from ahead, breaking me out of my reverie. I see her keeping herself up with heavy flaps of wings. Surely it must be tiring. I tend to forget; unlike me, none of the others have the levitation powers to make things easy in the air. They have to only rely on their wings.
I dive down next to her. "Let's take I rest," I suggest, hearing her laboured breaths. I'm surprised at her dedication to flying if it's so tiring. After all, she only began recently. She really does like the dances, so I try my best to cooperate with her.
I let her show me a few of her skills, some punches or claw attacks, some breaths or streams of fire. They seem quite fierce and novel, but likely due to the fact that I'm very unfamiliar with Charizard combat. If she were up against Rue, I doubt she'd last very long.
Vie and Hale come back soon, and we share the lunch together around the remains of the campfire that we ignite at night. I glance around for the two Salamence and the Dratini, and I see that the Dratini has led Father very far out into the ocean. Spire isn't anywhere to be seen. He's back to sulking alone, I suppose.
The Haxorus's voice distracts me. "And then I just leaped on him!" she says, surely narrating to the twins about our battle. "He has no physical strength, so I really just pushed him over. Like a pushover."
"Are you not going to mention all the times I beat you before that?" I add, not entirely impressed with her recounting.
"You did get quite a few good attacks off, but none of them rendered me unable to fight. Whereas my final hold on you was lethal, if we were actual enemies."
I fall silent, not bothering to say a comeback. Rue's comment brought up an old thought of mine. Kill or be killed. The fundamental way this world works. Even the food I am eating right now comes from killing…
Phendrene's soft touch on my arm distracts me. "Are you okay?" she whispers under Rue's continued ramble, her eyes full of worry.
I give a short nod and take a bite. Forget about all these worries, Nova. Taste the blood. Isn't it exciting? Doesn't it ignite some ferocious desire in you? What, only a little? Well try harder then!
"Can I watch?" Hale asks. "I wanna see Nova and Rue fight it out. What do you say, Vie?"
"Yeah! If anyone can beat Rue, it would be Nova." She gives me an encouraging smile, to which I try and return. I never thought I would feel this way, but I'm actually taking pride in my proficiency at battling.
"All right! I'm finished." Rue tosses a piece of bone casually to the side and stands up. "Come on, Nova! Didn't I give you something to eat just earlier?"
I sigh and follow her out onto the open sand. "So, do we begin?" I ask.
She walks further ahead and turns around. "Whenever you're ready, Nova."
"I thought you try to attack first?" I return, crossing my arms to feign inattention.
"Oh please, surely you've learned to dodge that by now," she says back. "Come on, everyone's waiting for you, mister psychic."
Somehow that phrase makes my anger flare, and I spontaneously release a small pulse at her. She steps aside, and rushes towards me. I begin charging a much larger one, and send it at her feet. She is surprise and barely manages to dodge it, but with the swerve I grasp telekinetically onto her body and use the momentum to fling her to the side, and send her skidding in the sand. She tries to get up, but I manipulate the sand to grip tightly onto one of her feet.
"Dirty tactics," I hear her mutter as she writhes her foot out of the sand hold. I make a mental note to myself that sand is not a reliable material to use. She takes a tentative step to my left but changes course to the right. Realising that I've been preparing to fling her in the wrong direction, I simply leap forward and hover just above the earth, allowing my tail to swat her right on the stomach before she lands and tumbles further down.
Righting myself and turning around, I see that Rue is sitting on the floor panting. Aside, the three spectators all seem enthralled by my performance.
"What is it, powerful Haxorus?" I taunt. "Can't you defeat a weak, puny Flygon like me?"
She lets out a roar and somehow launches herself from a sitting position into a leap coming right for me. I barely manage to lift myself out of the way, but she still doesn't get her hands on me. Sensing that she may be getting desperate, I charge a strong energy pulse and send it at her as she is righting herself, hitting her square in the back. She lets out a painful cry and falls limp into that position. Knowing I am close to victory, I walk closer, but this time with a careful watch on her mind.
He's doing it again… I'll grab him there-
I jump up when her arm darts out, conjuring a hard block of sand to appear in my foot's place. Her knuckles hit the sand as she lets out another grunt of pain.
"Still beating me, huh?" I say as I float just above her, watching her tired body. The pulse leaves quite a visible mark on the backside, but she asked for it.
Rue manages to push herself around to lie facing upwards, her body parallel to mine. Taking deep breaths, she just stares at me in something between indignation and admiration.
"I think Nova won here," Hale comments and runs over, Vie and Phendrene following. "His manoeuvres were far superior."
"That was really impressive!" Vie says to me.
"It's not fair," Rue mutters. "I would have easily hit him… if he was just some average special attack user," she says with difficulty. "But his psychic abilities… they let him do too much."
Finding the floating become too excessive of a torment for her, I sit myself on the ground next to her. "You knew I was psychic when you challenged me, so don't go complaining about it," I state simply. "Thanks for the advice, by the way. In future battles I will take you seriously. Unfortunately for you, that means you'll probably never touch me again," I say with a grin.
Rue's sideways look clearly indicates she is finding the best retort, but there is nothing. "Fine. I lose." She closes her eyes. "Ugh… I have to find a way to beat you. I have to," she repeats with determination.
"I was joking," I add hesitantly, feeling my words were a bit too harsh. "It's just one battle, right? Don't worry about it."
"Nova, you don't understand," Hale comments. "She hasn't lost to anyone."
I turn to him. "Nobody? What?" I frown. "You two haven't beaten her?"
Vie shakes her head. "It's pretty hard. If one of us is slightly careless she holds her tusk next to our face and we're considered 'out', and the other has no chance alone. Last time Bane came over, he joined us, and Rue still-"
"Wait," Hale interrupts, standing up suddenly. "Bane is supposed to come over to the Shallows to visit us today. We need to go back. Now."
Vie's eyes widen as well. "Huh?" I ask, startled at the change in topic. "Does that mean I have to teleport you?"
"How else are we going to get back in a day?" Vie answers. "I mean, it's hard to contact him from our side, so we can't really miss his visits… Nova, please? We can rest there for a few more days before coming back if you find your head hurting again. One teleportation of three of us should be okay, right? You haven't teleported recently."
"Yeah, I haven't," I confirm. "Should we go tell the two Salamence?"
Vie begins, "Phendrene and Rue can-"
"I'm coming," the Charizard who had stayed silent all this time says and holds onto my hand. "I can't let you…"
"Oh come on!" Rue complains as she stands up with difficulty. "If we're bringing anyone extra it's me for sure. Nova may be strong, but what if there are Flygon coming to attack? Or Salamence? I need to be there to make sure we're safe. Here at the beach, none of you are in danger. Don't worry, I'll make sure Nova doesn't run off," she says as she grabs onto my arm.
"Hey, I won't!" I raise my voice in protest, but they ignore me.
"Phendrene, just trust me," the Haxorus repeats. "We need you here to help Blight hunt, because Spire is worthless when it comes to that."
"I… all right," Phendrene concedes and looks down. "When will you be back?"
"Nova?" Rue prompts, and I realise I'm supposed to answer the question.
"Depending on how much energy it takes to teleport four people. I say latest tomorrow night. Worst case scenario just let me sleep through the day," I answer.
"Uh, are we permanently moving here?" Hale asks, slightly worried. "That means Nova will have to teleport us back every two weeks."
"We'll figure something out," Vie says impatiently. "Bane might already be there waiting for us. Let's go."
"All right," I answer and stand up. "Take care of my father and my brother, okay?" I tell the Charizard next to us.
She nods, and watches us attentively from aside.
"Ready when you are," Rue says, and tugs onto me. The twins gather close as well, and I close my eyes, focusing on the image of the entrance to my cave, taking all three of them into my mind.
With the familiar tugging sensation, the slight sea wind disappears, replaced by a warm and dry air. Hearing a grunt below me, I realise that Rue had fell a short distance to the ground.
"Sorry! Climb onto me next time we teleport," I say and drop down. "Are you hurt?"
"I'm fine." She sits up and leans against the rock outcrop. "Let me rest here for a while. You guys go check if the brother is here."
"All right," Hale responds and flies off, Vie in quick pursuit.
"Um, what about me?" I ask the tired Haxorus. "You're telling me to go with them?"
"You know their brother, right?" she says. "Why not meet him? I need to rest here to recover from the battle, anyway."
"I see. Sorry about-"
"You don't need to apologise for it!" she interrupts me. "I know what I'm getting into when I agree to battle with you. These wounds aren't even that bad," she says, trying to shrug it off.
I don't argue with her. "Okay. You can go inside my cave to rest if it's too hot out here," I tell her, and take off in the direction of Vie's cave.
Sure enough, there is a slightly larger light skinned Flygon with Vie and Hale. I swoop down smoothly and land behind him.
"Hey, Nova's here!" Vie shouts, bringing Bane's attention to me.
"Hello," I say, not completely recognising his face.
"Ah, Nova," he says, his voice vaguely familiar. "You're finally back now. It's good to see you."
"You too," I answer courteously, unsure of how I'm supposed to act in front of him.
"I heard about the stand you made for the Salamence. Impressive, even if one was your father."
Vie tries to nudge Bane discretely to get him to stop talking about that topic. I silently thank her for that.
"We're going to visit our parents' grave," Hale says in a rather neutral tone. "Would you like to come with us?" His speech has become more formal as well, probably affected by the formality between Bane and me.
"If you don't mind," I answer.
"Of course we don't!" Vie stays as cheery as usual. "It's all distant memories now. Don't worry," she justifies it and walks off to the centre of Shallows. It's the only building here, and I've always steered clear, because most of us commoners didn't have any business with it. I have been to the graveyard behind it a few times in my childhood, but for reasons that I have long forgotten. For one, I know my mother's parents weren't buried there.
Vie and Hale tell Bane about life down south at the coast as we walk past the centre. Glancing at what must be a camera, I realise I've forgotten about someone. Porygon-Z. The one who brought me back here. I said I'd visit him.
Porygon-Z, you there? I try to reach out to him, looking into the camera.
Hey, Nova! The swiftness of the reply surprises me. Don't worry about me! Now that I'm free, I have mountains of data to sift through, so I'm never bored! It's actually easier to visit me in the marine centre, so get going with your business now!
I can't help but smile at his cheeriness. All right. See you soon, then.
Past the building, there is a flat area with quite a lot of gravestones. However, what surprises me is that they stop at one that is just a pile of rocks.
"Most of the gravestones from before were manufactured at Lyrl," Hale explains, sensing my confusion. "However… there were too many casualties at the Shallows on that day. So we just made this as a replacement."
"Our uncle did bury him here, so it is really their grave," Bane tells me. "Other than Sare, but…"
Hale sighs. "I'd rather him be dead than in the hands of the Salamence."
I'm curious about it, but I know to shut my mouth when talking about matters like this. Vie, though, must have saw me react, and explains, "Sare was the next youngest brother up from us. We didn't find his body, only a torn wing."
I nod in acknowledgement, but still don't say anything.
"What about you?" Hale asks me. "Where is your mother's grave?"
"It's in Lyrl. I still visit her gravestone quite often," Bane says.
I don't know how I'm supposed to answer to that. "Thanks?"
"She did help me out a lot when we first got to Lyrl. It's such a shame that what happened… happened." He looks back up. "At least everyone is fine now," he says with a tentative smile.
"How has it been in Lyrl?" Hale asks. "You found a mate yet?"
Bane shakes his head. "Not really in the mood for it. Cole's mate has laid an egg, though."
"Ooh, nice," Hale says. "When was it?"
"Last week. They've kept it pretty safe. I've only got a glimpse of it."
I briefly wonder why the other brother isn't coming to visit. Maybe he's a type that values family less. I don't really have the right to judge him, given how I've treated mine.
"Nova, we're going to talk for quite a while," Vie says to me. "Go make sure Rue's okay."
"All right." I thank her in my mind again for taking my thoughts into consideration. "I need to check on the Haxorus. Until next time, Bane."
He nods. "See you, Nova."
I take a step back leap into the air, swiftly gliding back to my cave. Rue has listened my advice and moved inside my cave. "I'm back," I call to the Haxorus lying on the floor.
"Oh, good. I was just starting to feel hungry." She pushes herself up with slightly more energy than before. "Mind taking me to the hills to find some berries? I can't find any at the beach, so I kind of miss them."
"Sure," I answer. "Hop on. I'm saving my teleport for the trip back, so I'll have to fly."
I'm still not that used to someone on me, because we've mostly transported using teleportation, and Phendrene has grown her own wings. Regardless of that, I'm still able to take flight smoothly and head down south, eyeing the mountains in the distance as my destination. By now, Rue has learned to keep herself as close to me as possible, not just to minimise air resistance, but also for the mutual warmth. Even if I subconsciously set up a barrier to the wind, it still feels quite cold.
It's not long before the desert ends and we ascend rocky cliffs, sparse grass starting to grow. You want to land now? I ask her in my mind.
"What?" she shouts over the wind.
Just answer in your mind. I can read it.
Oh. Hey, that means we can talk during flights easily!
If you're comfortable with me reading your mind, sure. Answer my question first. When are we landing?
I say go up further. You and I both know that this trip isn't just for berries. Remember last time, how all three of Phendrene, Vie, and Hale started complaining about it being cold? We are the only two ones strong enough. I was thinking training up here would help both of us, cause us dragons are supposed to be weak to the cold.
I didn't expect her to spout all of that. You really think it's better training up here?
Why not? Haven't you heard of the allegory about the swimming Charizard?
I'm jolted out of her mind by a distant memory of Aya, not at all helped by the fact that I'm passing the biome I met her in. Yes… I suppose you're right. Now be quiet, I need to focus on flying faster. Let's not waste time on the journey. I'm not sure if telepathy actually slows me down, but I wanted to have time to be alone with my thoughts.
Aya. I still haven't found her. And she hasn't found me. Surely she would have stayed near the beach and observed the huge group of dragons that randomly came? Or did she try and make her way back to the desert through the mountains, only to be captured by Salamence? I shake my head. That's impossible. Someone who is so easy to trust strangers must be easy to let them go as well. She must have assumed I got bored of her and left, and continued on with her journey. …
No, I'm lying to myself. Knowing that I can't hunt, there's no way she would simply leave me at that. She would have tried to find me. Wouldn't she? …
I find myself getting too emotional again, so I force myself to observe the terrain around me. We're reaching the area where the hills are fairly steep and varied with plenty of plant life. I don't stop, though, because I would never be able to focus here. It's the place where I first met her.
But as I continue, there is the plateau, and the ravine, and finally the waterfall. At the cliff midway of the waterfall, I stop. "Isn't this waterfall nice?" I try and make small talk with Rue.
"Huh?" I look back to her and find that she had just opened her eyes. "Oh, wow! It's so awesome. What a shame for the others who aren't willing to come up because of the cold. That's what we get for being the stronger ones, eh?"
I smile at her statement. "Wanna fly up?" I suggest.
"That'd be great. I'll make sure to keep my eyes opened this time."
So I carry her upward slowly next to the waterfall, relishing in the refreshing spray of water as the crashing sound from below becomes farther and farther away. And once we finally ascend to the top, I float just above where the cliff drops, giving the two of us a grandiose view of the waterfall.
"Thanks, Nova," she blurts out all of a sudden. "If it weren't for you, I'd still be stuck on my legs, probably still in the forest."
I feel embarrassed. "Hey, you hunt for me! It's only right of me to carry you."
"You could begin hunting any time you want with your psychic powers. You just choose not to."
I don't know why she brought this up, so I land on the riverbank and talk about something else. "I'm thirsty. Let me drink a bit of water." There were only a few ponds back near the beach, which all tasted pretty stale.
"Word." She hops off me and bends down to the river, and I do too. Being a Flygon, I am done faster than her, and take my time survey the land above this cliff. The terrain becomes even steeper, there being another ravine immediately upstream of this river. That's what the Salamence disappeared behind, last time, where I scared away the two of them with Aya. No worries, though, because Rue and I are invincible together.
"Ah, haven't drank from a moving water source in a while," Rue says as she stands up and wipes her mouth. "So, you ready?"
"Ready for what?" I ask, before I realise that it's obvious. She leaps at me quickly, making me sidestep and almost lose my balance, so I hover myself. "Are you well rested enough?" I ask instead of counterattacking.
"Long enough to get back in action! Get down here!" she shouts impatiently and waves her fist up.
"All right." I swoop back down to the floor as she rights herself. Standing across each other, we're both hesitant to make the first move. I notice a loose piece of rock on the floor so I raise and throw it at her, but she catches it and tosses it back towards me. As I step aside to dodge it, she once again leaps at me. In the air, unable to change her course, I confidently charge up a large energy pulse and fire it straight at her, but she blocks the strongest part with her arms, and just barely gets a swipe onto my chest. Flinching at the minor pain, I levitate myself backwards and try and lock her in the earth when she lands, but she jumps upwards quickly and tries to grab onto my foot.
"You're not allowed to go that high!" she complains, crossing her arms in frustration.
"Fine."
I glide around her and land next to the river, attempting to lure her to leap in. She runs towards me, but when I move out of the way, she turns around and slaps me square in the back with her tail, sending me through the air. If it weren't for my self-levitation I'd have crashed.
She is getting better at dealing with my psychic antics, and it shows. We continue duelling at a moderate pace, neither of us willing to full on commit to an attack, knowing that if we make a mistake, the other can easily capitalize on it and emerge victorious.
My endurance has always been good, due to my extensive flying, but I still become tired, exacerbated by this cold weather. Rue seems to have it bad as well, especially given that I just used some water from the river to deter her; now she's all wet and shivers a little. Both of us are racking up small injuries from our engagements, which is particularly bothersome for me, considering I never got scratched by her the last time we fought. But I won't give up, and I know that she won't either. The two battles today both ended because we underestimated each other. This time, we're both taking each other very seriously, in order to win the third rematch and claim victory.
As we battle on, I notice that she changes in the way she fights. She very rarely leaps now, understanding that her fixed path is detrimental to evading my attacks. Instead, she stays light on her feet. I feel like I'm tiring out, so I try and conserve my energy, using attacks only when the chance of hitting her is relatively high. Still she manages to dodge most of them, as I add more and more charred marks to the floor.
This time, she walks closer at a slower pace I hold my ground, watching her every move carefully. She has learned to keep her mind mostly blank so I cannot predict where she will go. A sudden jump with her tusk aimed toward me startles me. She is too close to me for me to charge up a pulse, so I levitate myself out of the way…
Except I don't and just stand there. There's an acute pain and I look down to see a Haxorus tusk buried in my side.
I can't help but let out a gasp. Trying to clutch my wound, I only manage to touch her face. She immediately moves her face back, removing the tusk from my body. I feel some blood gush out, the pain almost making me fall over.
"N-Nova?" Her voice is devoid of any excitement from the successful attack, and instead full of worry. "I didn't think that would hit, I-"
A sudden coldness in my backside makes me lose any energy I had left and I simply collapse to the floor, my wings in a mess under me. My head now positioned in a way that sees behind me, I spot a black weasel with a red crown firing crystallized shards of ice at Rue, but she jumps out of the way.
"Who are you?" Rue shouts angrily, before she has to dodge another round of ice shards. "Fire one more and I'll hack your skull open!"
I hear the Pokémon give out a smug chuckle, before I see several pairs of Salamence feet land onto the floor.
"Nova! Teleport us out of here!" Rue yells in desperation and grabs onto me, giving me ever so enough determination to lift my arm up. With a swipe, I try and send the intruder into the river, but he doesn't move. "Come on!" Rue repeats, and I grab her, thinking of the Shallows… But there's no tugging sensation, no pain in my mind, nothing. I even try and levitate us but there's not even a slight movement.
A blue-black jackal with a spike on his chest climbs off one of the Salamence. "Resign now. We don't plan to kill either of you," he says in a deep, serious voice.
"Never!" Rue shouts back and holds onto me. "Nova, what are you doing? Hurry up!"
"I… I can't…" I manage to get out.
"The psychic Flygon's abilities are disabled now," the weasel announces in a sharp tone. Only then do I notice something in his hand, but my vision isn't clear enough to decipher what it is. "You're not going to escape, so just come with us. We don't plan to hurt you more than we need to."
"Nova, can you still fly? I'll drag you off the cliff and deal with them myself," Rue whispers to me, completely ignoring the opposition's demands. "Nova?"
"I can't..." Even talking consumes a great deal of energy. With a coldness in my heart, I come to the realisation that there is no way out for me. "Leave, Rue. You can still escape…"
"Stop talking and detain them!" a Salamence roars. "Weavile, use your ice shards on the Haxorus!"
The Weavile pauses, but obeys and throws it out. Rue dodges it narrowly and tries to pick me up, but the jackal fires a blue sphere that hits her and sends her flying into the river. Then he comes over, grabs onto my arm, and drags me back towards the group of Salamence. My injury sliding against the ground sends waves of pain through me, but there's nothing I can do about it.
"Good job, Lucario," the same Salamence says. "Now everyone, go get the Haxorus!"
I hear the few other Salamence take off. The Lucario drops me onto the floor next to the commanding Salamence and asks, "But we were just aiming for the psychic Flygon, were we not?"
"Don't question me!" the Salamence responds harshly. "The Haxorus is a valuable specimen in every situation!"
I turn my head towards the river with the last bit of my strength. Rue has climbed out, and is in battle-ready stance. As soon as the first Salamence arrives, it almost gets a tusk in its neck, but the next Salamence takes advantage of it and claws at Rue's face, leaving a gash.
"Hang in there, Nova! I'll save you!" she shouts as she turns around and slams her tail into her aggressor, flinging the Salamence down the cliff.
"No, Rue! Leave!" I scream with all my might, begging her. "Please, just LEAVE!"
She gives me a longing and regretful look, before turning around and diving off the cliff at the river. With that sight, I relax and close my eyes, and everything was no more.
Remember at the top of this page where I said the story didn't really have a villain? I hope that is fixed now.
The plot will advance at a much faster pace from now on, since Nova is becoming exponentially more proficient at battling, yet his enemies are so too. And many more important characters are appearing, both in this chapter and in chapters of the recent future.
I really, really love hearing from readers, so please drop a review if you have anything to say! If you're too shy for a review, or don't want to review for any other reason, a private message would suffice. If you want me to respond, make sure you don't review on anonymous.