Sorry it always takes me so long to update. But I have not forgotten about ANY of my stories! College just takes up a lot of time. Enjoy!
The first night was surprisingly the easiest. They were both exhausted when they decided to make camp. It was dry, there was a small cave for shelter, and she had her torch to start a campfire with. Sleep came easy, and she had even let Lucky out to curl up with her.
The next couple nights were not as simple. Vega was headed east, towards the Great Plain and the Flying Sect's major city- Aero. Aero was famous for its entertainment, especially its circus. The wide open spaces allowed for the permanent circus to stretch for miles. Many pokemon were trained for just this by the commoners, and the trainers offered up their best to the ring leader, and were paid a pretty sum if he liked what he saw. But this happened rarely, and so many times this get-rich-quick method ended in failure. Usually, it was the pokemon trained by the circus staff themselves that were allowed to perform, since they knew what they were doing and had a leg up in training.
Those of the Flying Sect were obsessed with speed, agility and grace, and the circus was their most famous showcase of that obsession.
Vega had made it out of Flaming territory several hours before the sun set. The change was dramatic. The tree line abruptly dropped to display a giant grassland, spanning for miles and miles, with seemingly no end, almost like an ocean. Travel became a lot quicker after that, without having to navigate through woods and climb trees to get her bearings. The ground was hard and dry, and the grasses brittle and stiff.
Lucky battled a few pokemon here and there, defeating those who stayed on the ground surprisingly easily. Ratatta and sentret were no match for her caterpie, and she was proud. Vega returned Lucky at any sign of a stalker bird pokemon, however. Those that passed over were no threat, but those that circled back around were quickly noted and accounted for. Besides the stray curious bird pokemon, however, it was pretty easy going.
But at night, without any sort of natural shelter, it became very cold and very dangerous. Wild pokemon would not go out of their way to attack something that was hidden or holed up, and would usually avoid a campfire. But Vega, lying in the wide open spaces with no cover, made a very easy target. She didn't sleep that night, staying up, keeping her eye out for wild scavengers, even after the wind had suffocated both her campfire and her torch. She was going to have to start making use of her flint.
In the morning, bending down and picking up her stuff, brushing the dust off of her clothes, Vega heard a loud screech. "Bluuuu!" She turned around to find a bird pokemon struggling but succeeding in carrying her Lucky away.
"Pie cater ca!" squealed Lucky, thrashing back and forth.
"Lucky!" she cried. Thinking quickly, she decided on an attack. "Um, use string shot on its wings!"
"Pie!" Lucky cried frantically. But a stream of sticky web shot out of her tail, wrapping the left wing of the pokemon and sending them both tumbling to the ground. Vega sprinted over to the crash site, and found Lucky on her side, struggling to rite herself, and the angry swablu tearing at the string tying its wing to its side.
Vega picked Lucky up and ran back to the campsite. She set her down and picked up her bag, and hooked the sleeping bag on. Just in time, too.
"Swablu!" cried the angry cotton terror, and it dove right at Lucky, pecking her right on her head.
"Caterpie..." she whined, and tried to inch away.
"No! Lucky, don't turn your back on..." The swablu landed another direct hit on her head. Lucky fell to the ground.
"No!" Vega cried, but something weird happened. Lucky glowed white for a second, and string began to come out of her tail, wrapping her body. Suddenly, a metapod sat in her place.
"Sweet." remarked Vega, shocked. She knew bug pokemon evolved fast, just not how fast.
"Okay, use harden!" she called.
"Pod," agreed Lucky, and her shell became more lustrous. Another peck landed, but this time the bird pokemon seemed to bounce off, hurting itself more than Lucky.
"Okay, wait for it to get close, then full force tackle!" Vega ordered. The swablu was already angled into another dive. Lucky waited until the last second, and then threw herself at the bird pokemon.
"Swa!" tweeted the swablu as it crashed into the ground. It strained and pushed itself to its feet with cottony wings. Breathing hard, it tried to take flight once more, but was struggling.
Vega reached into her bag and grabbed a cold red crystal. "You're mine!" she roared, and threw it with all her might. The bird dissolved into light, and was swallowed by the gem, where it pulsed wildly. Three bright flashed, and it subsided into a steady glow. Vega had caught her second pokemon.
Turned out that Sue was just as wild after being captured as she was in the wild. The first time she was released, she immediately tried to attack Lucky again.
"What- no! You are a team now you do not... hey!" Sue began pulling at Vega's hair instead. "Get... ugh! Lucky string shot!"
In a straight jacket made of silk, the little bird began licking her lips and panting. She eyed Lucky hungrily. "We do not eat teammates!" Vega repeated for the third time. She carefully cut the silk off of her wings. "Now it's about lunch time and..." Sue dove straight for Lucky as soon as her binds were cut. Vega wasted no time and sent her back to the crystal.
She rubbed her temple, at a loss. "Well, I guess we are eating without her."
"Meta," agreed Lucky thankfully.
After eating, Vega took extra precautions and sent Lucky back inside her crystal. She sent out Sue, who, instead of attacking, began pecking at the crumbs on the ground.
Vega face palmed. "You're hungry." She took out more of their rations and laid them in front of the bird. Eagerly, Sue ate and ate and ate like she hadn't eaten in days. And, like magic, she became sweet as could be. Sue was the nicest, cutest, sweetest thing; as long as she wasn't hungry (and hey, we all get like that sometimes, don't we?)
And so, the trio travelled on. Vega was constantly carrying the egg, and since Lucky could no longer ride on her shoulder, she usually stayed in her crystal. Sue floated along, letting the breeze carry her higher and higher into the open, cloudless sky.
So the next night they spent was better, but cold. The air was dry, and the wind that during the day was so welcoming, at night became their bane. Making a fire was impossible with the sparks from her flint being extinguished by the ever present breeze. She finally gave up, and just wrapped up in her sleeping bag. She knew that wild pokemon generally avoided fires, but she lost that hope and just prayed that Lucky and Sue would be enough to keep away the scavengers.
She looked her team over. Sue was sitting comfortably on the egg, chatting with Lucky (hopefully apologizing.) She was small and cute... and Lucky was, well, immobile. Vega groaned and threw herself back on the ground, pushing on her bag to find that soft spot to lay her head on. The stars were brighter in the wide open spaces of the Great Plain, and the moon was nearly as bright as the sun.
Vega groaned again and turned on her side, facing her pokemon. She resolved for her next capture to be something big. And intimidating. So maybe she could sleep at night. Finally she asked Sue to sing her to sleep, and once the little bird found the right pitch, she was out until morning.
The next day was easy travel. The ground was beginning a very slight upward slope, almost too small to notice. Vega only noticed because her legs could feel the extra burn that comes from hiking up a hill. Otherwise, the plains were flat and grassy as ever.
Lucky was becoming exceptionally good at targeting attacking bird pokemon with her string shot, pinning them to the ground so Sue could dispatch them with ease. Their little system worked consistently, and soon they were left alone by the scavengers who moved on to easier victims.
The bigger bird pokemon seemed to take little interest in them. Whatever mouthful that Lucky would provide was simply not worth their time. During lunch, Vega stiffened when a herd of dodrio ran past, but relaxed when she realized that they paid her no mind. The large bird pokemon seemed to simply enjoy running in the beautiful sunny weather.
And so they marched on eastward, the ground becoming harder and rockier, with sparser drier grasses. The pokemon found there changed too. The flat ground and dry air still fostered flying type pokemon, though now instead of swellow, pidgeotto, and
tranquill, they were finding skarmory, aerodactyl, and mandibuzz.
The sun had nearly set when Vega and her pokemon reached the end of the incline. The downward slope cast what laid before her in shadow. In the distance, she could see the outline of a city, with glittering torches increasing in number thanks to the impending darkness.
The three made camp next to a large rock, sitting at an angle at which it blocked the wind. Making a fire was easy, and Vega slept exceptionally well, compared to the last few nights anyway. Once again, there were no problems at night.
Vega rose early that morning, watching the sun rise over Aero in the distance. The city itself was impressive; there were many buildings, its diameter spanning miles. None of the buildings were tall, however, for the whipping winds of the Great Plains would not allow it.
The most impressive, however, were the colorful gigantic circus tents at the southern end of the city. There were three large tents, with smaller carnival stands and stages in between. The tents were organized in a triangle, so the crowds were perfectly balanced.
There was also forest to her right, in the distance behind the tent that created the southern point of the triangle. The beginnings of The Garden, her next destination.
Vega returned Lucky, but kept Sue on her shoulder while holding her egg. Having a flying type pokemon in the sect would earn her some respect, she hoped. Flying Sect members couldn't stand the Lightning or Stone Sects (even though the poor pacifist Stones didn't understand why,) and Vega was glad she didn't have any electric or rock types on her.
The city was loud and busy. Sue dug her talons into Vega's shoulders tighter, and while the young trainer winced, she didn't complain. She would have done the same thing.
She dove to the side, barely avoiding getting run over by a ponyta pulling a cart. "Watch yaself!" barked the driver, almost running over another unlucky victim. Vega shook her head and regained her bearings, patting her shoulder to make sure Sue was still situated. She continued on.
Overall, the city was nice, but so overcrowded. Vega reached a courtyard near the center of the city that was packed with people. The crowd was centered around a man in a top hat, with a murkrow on his shoulder. They looked so similar, it was almost comical.
"The new proclamation, from the imperial administration, and the head of intelligence, Arthur P. Emerson himself!" The crowd quieted down as the man spoke, flourishing his arms dramatically, the murkrow mimicking his actions perfectly. A few people giggled.
"The kind lady our Queen Cecilia has decided to... step down!" He spoke, shocked, clearly reading the piece of parchment himself for the first time. "There will be a tournament... any peoples who can defeat the eight designated Lords in each Sect's temple, and collect the eight symbols of each, will be allowed to participate in a tournament in one year's time to take the Queen's throne as King. Only men may participate, best of luck to you all."
He probably said more, but the murmurs of the crowd were too much for Vega to hear. If she had wanted to hear. Her dreams had been quashed as soon as she heard those fateful words; "Only men may participate..."
It wasn't fair. Her whole life had been defined by being a woman. She was expected to do certain things, act a certain way, be someone who she wasn't. And now, she is thrust into life at a most opportune time, and told she cannot make the most of it because... because what? she thought. Because I have breasts?
Frustrated and defeated, she moped her way back down the street, towards the local tavern. She returned Sue and, holding her egg tight, opened the doors.
The smell of body odor and alcohol assaulted her nostrils. Perfect, she grimaced, and marched towards the bar. She ordered a vodka and aguave berry juice, and sipped quietly, walling herself off from the world in her own little bubble.
Moping was an art, and Vega was one of the best. Not only did she mope, but she hid it well too. The whole world is going to be out there watching this tournament, she thought, and I'm going to be, what, looking for a good husband? Oh no, I'll show them.
She was ordering her second drink (okay, third) when a group of guys entered the tavern, gossiping excitedly like teenage girls.
"Jack, you're so cool. I mean, to get chosen to be their Champion? Wow you must be really good!" chattered one of the boys, who looked younger than the other three.
"Yeah, I am pretty good I guess," the one named Jack yawned, cocky as can be.
"Yeah, the Flying Sect sure has a King with you, you're gonna win it all!" said another one of the guys, this one was big, but dumb at the same time.
"Don't worry boys, when I'm King, there will be room for all of you in my castle. Ay waiter, why doncha bring a couple rounds over to your future King!" Jack snapped his fingers at the waitress who was helping another table. As she passed, he slapped her on the behind. She stiffened, but kept walking.
Vega was steaming at this point, doing everything she could to hold her tongue, and her egg. She swiveled in her barstool, towards the table of loud mouthes.
"Excuse me, boys," she said, excruciatingly sweet. "Would you kindly explain to me what a Champion is?" She batted her eyes.
"Well you see- oof!" the fourth boy began. He was taller and skinnier than the rest, and folded neatly in half when Jack elbowed him in the stomach.
"Well you see," began Jack, giving him a look. He turned back towards Vega. "I am gonna to represent the Flying Sect in the tournament of our Queen Cecilia. All of the Sects are choosin' champions, and I jus' happened to be the strongest Birdie in all of Flying." He reached behind his head, flexing his arms not so subtly.
Vega resisted a groan. "Sounds exciting. Too bad a poor, helpless girl like me can't enter the tournament." She turned back towards the bar disgusted.
But not fast enough. "Yeah, as if a girl would have any chance anyway," snorted Jack, and his followers snickered.
Furious, Vega got up and headed over towards the tavern owner. "How much for a room here for the night?" she asked politely.
The fat, grease covered man gave her a look, lingering a little too long on certain areas. "We don't rent out to females," he said gruffly.
Vega had about had enough. She reached into her bag, and pulled out her pouch of gold coins. She took out a single gold piece, and handed it over to the owner.
"Would this be enough for a 'female' to room?" It took all of her effort not to throw the coin at him and screech every word she said.
"Uh, uh, of course my lady. More than enough. Let me find some change," he stumbled over his words. He sprinted (a steady jog for his size) behind the bar, and scraped the register clean of silver coins. He brought them over to Vega. "This is all I have, is it enough for change?" he asked her, sweeter than cherry pie.
Vega grabbed the coins, disgusted, not even bothering to count. "It's fine," she mumbled, and snatched the room key out of his hand.
"Is there anything else we can get you, my lady?" he asked as she headed up the stairs.
"A medical kit," she called back down, and slammed her room door shut.
The exchange between the tavern owner and Vega had been quite loud, and there were hungry, desperate eyes watching the young trainer who had too many gold coins for her own good as she ascended the stairs. One set in particular fingered his belt knife as he watched her slam the tavern room door, taking careful note of the room number.
Review and favorite! I am loving the way this story is turning out.