Chapter Thirty

Just like the typical sky diver that you saw in the movies, Riley's cheeks were puffed out and exposed his teeth as they flew through the sky at a high velocity.

Smithers was pushing everyone a little bit faster this time because he was already a day or two late for when they told Lena. But hey, if there was a crisis like at the Safari Zone he was a firm believer that Lena would have helped those Pokémon too. Needless to say they were heading at a pretty good clip towards the other bridge on the side of the claw to connect them back to the mainland again. First of all it would be faster, since they wouldn't have to walk clear back from Sanville over to that bridge again. Smithers was perfectly with it in the end, so all was peachy.

Colby had managed to convince Ellis to let her fly this time and she was enjoying every bit of it. Ellis chuckled as her hair slapped him in the face for about the twenty-ninth time in the past hour, that wasn't exactly a pro for him but he was dealing with it. The goggles on each of their faces made it easy to see with the clouds seeming to float next to them, closer than they'd ever been to touching the sky really.

Josh snapped Colby out of her days by flying too close for comfort next to her and Ellis, yelling something over the wind that seemed a bit worse than on their way to Mayberry.

"What the hell is that?" He shouted, looking irritated at having to yell at least five times.

Ellis peeked around Colby's shoulder as she looked to where they were flying. It was one of the strangest things she'd ever seen...sort of like a wall of dust or something that reached what ground she could see through the clouds. It looked just a few miles off of where they were and was getting closer as they kept on course.

"I have no idea," she shouted back. Smithers on the other hand, looked worried.

"Sandstorm!" He responded breathlessly.

Colby's stomach sunk at the news as she watched the looming mass before them with horror. What were they going to do? The better question was what could they do? It was a really bad time to be in the sky, even with the goggles.

"There's no way of getting around it, we're going to have to go through," Smithers yelled, his coat flapping behind him in the wind.

"Stay close, and what ever you do keep your wits about you."

Amanda looked terrified and Riley was his normal pile of uselessness, clutching the girl in front of him like a horrified puppy. He thought he was afraid of flying before. As the sand came barreling toward them in a massive wall the fear really sunk into Colby as she glanced at Josh and Amanda that were flying beside her. Amanda shot her a horrified look as she clutched the bird around the neck and tried to lie low for the most part.

They were facing this huge wall of sand now like two opposing forces in battle and Smithers took up the lead, disappearing into the sand that was raining down upon them. Colby pulled her jacket up over to cover her mouth a nose, doing whatever possible to block the sand from suffocating her. Amanda and Josh gave her a wave before her friends disappeared into this dark mass consuming them like little pebbles.

Sand was everywhere coming in never ending, pummeling waves as the birds fought to keep heading forwards, despite the harsh conditions. The only thing that could be seen was really a brownish darkness along with the sting of the fine sand grains on her skin.

Josh seemed to be faring about the same as Colby and Ellis, except a lot more confident and a lot less scared. He didn't have time for petty emotions, getting through this unharmed was the main thing. But…he couldn't say he wasn't just the slightest, smallest, microscopic bit worried about his…friends…because that would be a lie. Shaking his head he squinted in the goggles and tasted the unpleasant grit of sand in his teeth.

After what seemed like hours of endless fighting through the sand Amanda and Riley hit an air pocket, they'd made it through. Blinking the dizziness that seemed she seemed to be swimming in.

"Is it over?" Riley asked softly from behind her, lifting his head.

Amanda pinched the bird's side and brought it to a stop, glancing back at the mammoth cloud that somewhere housed her friends.

"I think so," Amanda replied, desperately scanning for any sight of movement.

The silence gripped them both as all teasing between them stopped for the first time since they met. Not even Riley was up to breaking the silence as thick as the sand once shrouding them.

"Amanda!" A voice broke through and to her left Smithers coughed as he pulled his bird up to a stop.

"Colby? Ellis? Josh?" Amanda asked, looking around wildly and expecting them to be in tow.

Smithers shook his head plainly, grains of sand falling to the earth below. Amanda tried to control the tightening feeling she felt in her throat as they kept their eyes peeled for everyone else, but was failing miserably.

"What the shit, sand everywhere! It's going to take months to get this out of my damn cloak," an all too familiar voice cursed as he flew down from somewhere above them.

Josh appeared before them, a frown ever present on his face and hands madly raking the sand out of his jet-black hair. Amanda couldn't help herself from smirking at this though, now they were only waiting on Ellis and Colby. A screech pierced the silence, over Josh's cursing of course, as out of the clouds to their right flew what appeared to be their missing people and bird. Amanda glimpsed something strange though as they were headed right for the group…it looked like there was something on Colby's face.

"Whoa! Whoa," Ellis hollered, trying desperately to grab the reigns that were flapping loosely in the wind.

Colby was still screeching and flailing as Amanda watched her desperately attempt to remove the thing off of her face…it looked sort of like a kite had smacked her. But this was no kite; it appeared to be a struggling Pokémon. Ellis managed to get the reigns in time before Amanda had to dart out of the way, thankfully, and pulled them to a halt with the others. Colby peeled the Pokémon off of her face and looked into the cross-eyed eyes of a very confused Gligar.

"What the hell happened to you two?" Josh asked bluntly, staring at the Pokémon with little interest.

"We were just flying when this thing smacked her dead in the face…the poor guy must've been caught in the sandstorm too," Ellis explained sheepishly, fighting to keep a grin off of his face.

Even Smithers was finding it difficult to keep a straight face as he looked at them all with a bemused expression.

"It seems as if Colby has a new friend then," he announced. Colby just stared at the Gligar as it blinked back at her. It seemed as if the little guy had gotten lost, because why would he be traveling through a sandstorm anyway. It couldn't hurt, could it? Besides, another addition to the team was always welcome. "I'd say so…we'll call him Carl."


"I can't thank you kids enough for all your help…we've been on a journey of our own already. What you did for Mayeberry was extraordinary but try to lay off the Team Lunar business. We're just looking out for you," Smithers remarked, taking each of their sand filled goggles and stuffing them into his bag.

"No problem. But really, if there is something strange in the neighborhood, you can call us," Ellis grinned.

Smithers had the birds attached onto the lead one he was riding and looked down at their group.

"It's been a pleasure traveling with you five, good luck and stay safe. You're quite welcome to visit any time. Farewell for now."

"Bye Smithers!" Amanda called.

"Thank you!" Colby hollered.

"Good luck with the birds!" Ellis chimed in.

"Ugh, yeah, bye," Josh concluded messily.

They all watched him disappear into the clouds, except Josh who was still shaking the sand out.

"I think we'd be able to make it to Tenderstone within in the next day or so if we move quickly," Ellis explained, checking his MID.

"That looks doable, I can't wait for some time to just chill out. Our journey so far has turned out to be oddly busy," Colby added.

"Tenderstone would be your name if you were an Evolution Stone," Riley cooed to Amanda who looked thoroughly disappointed to start this up again.

Everyone began to move forward across the long bridge, occasionally passing an onlooker here and there. Colby and Ellis were in conversation about their route to Tenderstone, Josh was listening to his music and looking at the ground, and Riley was making up for his lack of disgusting flirty ways while they were stuck flying.

"Can I borrow a quarter?" Riley asked, nudging Amanda as she kept her gaze firmly forward.

They were about halfway across the bridge and Amanda's patience was wearing surprisingly thin for whatever reason. At the moment she really just wanted it to be time for bed so she could curl up with Zero and lay in thought. The yearning for peace was replaced by pestering Riley and she was reaching her breaking point. Sure, the occasional pick up line here and there she could handle…but not now.

"Can I borrow a quarter?" He pressed.

Amanda glanced momentarily over at Colby for some help but realized she was still conversing with Ellis, she sighed.

"What do you want a quarter for?" Amanda asked through gritted teeth, as she didn't even bother to remove his arm from around her shoulder.

"Because I want to call my mom to tell her I've just met the woman of my dreams," Riley answered with a grin.

Amanda focused on her breathing as she tried to distract herself by looking at the bridge, the people, the water beneath them, anything. Riley it seemed though had other plans and couldn't take a hint. Amanda was gripping the rail as she continued walking, Riley directly to her right making another stupid statement.

"Is there a rainbow today? Because I've found the treasure I've been searching for!"

Amanda stopped, looking him straight in the eye between clenched teeth.

"Riley…stop, now."

He frowned, stopping as she started walking again.

"Why don't you love me? Or even like me? C'mon baby, I'm hard to resist-"

Amanda stopped where she'd just been walking, turning around to face him with anger in her eyes. He could tell he'd hit a nerve and smiled, which only made Amanda more furious. Clenching her fists in balls at her sides she stared him down.

"Do you really want to know why I don't like you? That right there, your damn arrogance. You expect every girl to just fall at your feet because you know some stupid pick up lines, but I'm here to prove that's not the case," she snapped.

Riley looked a bit taken aback for a moment but quickly recomposed himself.

"Aw Twix baby, that one hurts. But really, I must be lost. I thought paradise was further south."

Amanda was silent for a second before she lost it, she just snapped. Every snappy comment she'd wanted to say, everything she'd held in was finally erupting to the surface and there was nothing anyone could to stop it. "Damn it you just don't get it!" She thundered.

That seemed to get the attention of Colby and Ellis, the couple on lookers that were on their side of the bridge, and even Josh who pulled out his headphone quizzically. Some guy that was on a MID in the middle of a phone call stopped, holding it from his ear and staring at the scene. Colby and Ellis stopped in their tracks as all eyes turned toward Amanda and Riley's…fight.

"I've put up with it for this long, all your little lines, that…that insufferable smirk that you always have on your face. All your flirting with every girl on the planet, all of it!"

She took a couple steps toward him, causing Riley to back up towards the rail with something like fear in his eyes. All traces of a little smirk were gone from his pale face.

"You know for a bit I thought I was special, that maybe all that flirting actually meant something. I was dumb, stupid to even think that for a second after the way you treat all of the girls you meet. It means absolutely nothing," she spat, still stomping closer.

Colby and Ellis were frozen in place, watching the scene with horror. Whatever was going to happen wasn't going to be good… They'd never seen Amanda loose her temper before, but the feeling wasn't good at all.

"I'm just getting started. Your arrogance just burns me, your complaining all the time about every damn thing! You take so much for granted, including the uncle of yours. Do you know what I would give to have family? A place to belong where I actually felt like I meant something to someone?"

By now Riley was firmly backed up against the railing, paling even more as Amanda kept coming, water in her eyes and fists clenched.

"You're insufferable, ungrateful, and rude. You want me to like you? I'd suggest working on those things. Oh and one more thing."

A couple of tears slipped down her face as she just stood there for a second. Riley looked utterly confused and was about to say something when Amanda just flat out decked him. Her fierce uppercut sent him flying up and over the rail…down to the water below.

Some of the people on the bridge screamed and Riley dropped the twenty feet or so to the water. Colby and Ellis exchanged a horrified glance while Josh looked legitimately impressed.

"Damn, that was a sick uppercut," he exclaimed.

The phone guy from earlier was now screaming into the MID, rushing over to the side where they were and looking down over the water.

"Honey yes you heard me right! This girl punched this red headed kid straight off the bridge. Straight off!" He yelled.

Amanda didn't even bother to meet her friend's eyes before turning and running, tears streaking her face.


A/N: Hope you enjoyed. Review if you want