Hello! This chapter more or less marks a significant milestone in the series.

I put in a cover image (yes, it's AI, sue me, I can't draw) and I created a map to aid myself in keeping track of everything, because I've been working overdrive not to create any plot holes. And speaking of plot holes, I've gone back and edited some things to patch those.

If you want to view my profile, there is some commentary on the story that I've written (Note: Can break immersion.)

Sorry for the more than a month wait, I rewrote this chapter twice to meet personal quality standards. Hope you enjoy.

Chapter 5)

Elemental March

Shank rummaged through his sack. "It wasn't on purpose-"

"Sure it wasn't." Xaliz mumbled while clutching his wing. "My wing might've been healed by now if you weren't so spiteful."

Xaliz's right wing had a deep laceration that spanned halfway across it. According to Xaliz, that made him nearly unable to fly, as it disturbed the aerodynamics of his flight.

Shank tossed him the potion Leo had used earlier in the day to cure his leg aches, and Xaliz applied it to the laceration before flapping it to gauge how much it healed.

"Not a single one of my students ever clumsily cut a wing like that." Shank remarked while helping apply more potion to the laceration.

Xaliz rolled his eyes. "Let it go, please."

Recalling basic first aid, Leo figured a laceration that deep would require a significant amount of disinfectant. He rummaged through Shank's sack looking for one, but if there was one, he couldn't tell.

"Do we have disinfectant for the cut?" Leo asked.

Shank gave back a puzzled look. "Why would we need to disinfect it? There's no poison types around here, and he's not poisoned."

"No, I mean against bacteria-"

"In my many, many years of learning, I've never heard of a bacteria." Shank remarked. "Axel, would you happen to know-"

Leo and Shank stared at Axel, but he didn't move a muscle. He stood fixed on Xaliz, with the dull yellow that colored his face replaced with a pale white.

"Axel?" Shank called out to him. "Are you feeling alright-"

"Don't talk to me." Axel viciously snapped back at Shank before walking into the trees adjacent to the spring.

Xaliz waited for Axel to walk out of earshot. "I watched Leo give him supplies, but I didn't think it would be enough to save his life, much less heal him enough to have him moving only two days from my attack."

"Technically, one." Shank replied. "He went to Luvanhalla though, which has arguably the best hospital southeast of the mountains."

"Kinda wish I was there myself right about now." Xaliz seethed as he flapped his injured wing. "So, you gonna explain where you got an extra backpack worth of items?"

Shank and Leo spent the better part of five minutes catching Xaliz up on the last day and a half of their expedition, including their duel with the thieves.

"I saw that Inteleon." Xaliz admitted. "I tried to scare 'em out of patrolling your path, but I took a turn too sharp and cut my wing on a tree."

Shank reorganized his backpack before wiggling it through his fins and over his back again.

"Alright, we've got to move imminently, we can't sit around forever." Shank scanned the forest for any sign of Axel. "Does anyone know where he ran off?"

Leo could still detect Axel's aura in the forest, sitting still. He assumed that Axel had already known Xaliz was the one who attacked him, but the outburst proved him wrong.

"He's still in the forest." Leo snitched, too shy to confront Axel himself.

Shank wandered into the forest to retrieve Axel, who had fortunately calmed down, albeit if still bitter.

"Alright, here's the current plan." Shank announced. "We're going to visit the echo garden to make sure we're headed the right way, then we're going to cut straight through the tundra; there's too much danger in going around it, plus it would take longer. Xaliz can't fly right now, so we'll have to climb the mountains ourselves; it'll add probably two days to the journey, but we'll manage"

Xaliz and Axel agreed. Leo did too, but only because he had no better suggestions.

"Alright," Shank beckoned as he began moving, "let's get a move on while the sun's still bright."

I kinda expected the echo garden to be… creepy?

Leo was entranced by all the mystical flowers that coveted the garden in a lulling pattern. The fjord of flowers extended far beyond what he could see, and the aura they gave off were soothing and calm, in contrast to the action-packed aura he was used to getting. Leo found himself picking flowers and smelling them as if he was a toddler in a candy shop.

This cements it, I would totally stay here if my sister were with me.

Shank began to lead the group towards the a massive concrete building towards the middle of the garden.

"I thought we were avoiding trails for a reason." Xaliz challenged Shank. "Why are we going towards a building with hundreds of pokemon on any given day? Do you want the rebirth to know another Lucario exists?"

"Oh relax, the garden is literally a testament to Yolsa." Shank clapped back. "Nobody who comes here would sell us out."

Xaliz rolled his eyes. "Just try not to make a scene."

Leo couldn't help but agree with Xaliz, though he was too shy to speak his mind. Shank met Xaliz halfway and let them through a side entrance to the building in an effort to conceal themselves.

If you can even call it a building…

There was no roof, with only natural light illuminating the museum-like building. Inside, there was five statues, with two smaller ones sculpting a corviknight and a malamar, two bigger ones raised slightly above the former with a lurantis and a dragapult, and the biggest one of all in the middle sculpting a yellow lucario holding an aura sphere. Leo curiously took a look at the metal placard nailed to the dragapult's statue, but was disappointed to find it was not Shank, but a dragapult named Cazaph.

"Why's the lucario statue yellow?" Leo asked.

"Yolsa was a different color than most Lucario." Shank explained. "They're called shiny, and are extremely rare. About one in four thousand without a parent being shiny, to be precise."

Leo suppressed the urge to give him the true odds, as he didn't wish to explain that his world emulated theirs for fun. He walked up to the metal placard on Yolsa's statue and read it.

Commemorating Yolsa, leader of the Hyclonic Alliance. Slain in battle on the eighty-first day of the year 493-7.

"So who leads the Hyclonic Alliance now?" Leo inquired.

"To tell you the truth, that's why we wanted you to stay in Vemine." Xaliz replied. "Everyone disagrees on who to lead the alliance, but with a Lucario at the helm, it would be hard not to unite everyone under their leadership."

Leo nearly threw up at the thought of leading an army he had no experience or connection to; scratch that, he nearly got sick at the thought of leading anything. He went to go check out the placards of the other three statues, but while looking at the lurantis, he bumped into an umbreon.

"Hey!" The umbreon cried out. "Watch where you're-"

The umbreon turned around to see Leo stumbling backwards before falling on the ground.

Why is this tail such a learning curve?

Shank apologized to the umbreon on his behalf. "He's still getting used to being a Lucario."

The umbreon sized up Leo before teeming with excitement. "Is it a real Lucario? I've never seen one in person before!"

Really? So excited to see probably the weakest, lamest guy on.. whatever this planet is?

"Nala!" Xaliz called out to the umbreon. "Long time no see. And yes, it is a real Lucario."

"That's so cool!" Nala replied. "Why are you here in echo garden though Xaliz? I thought we would never see each other again."

"You're gonna have to ask Shank." Xaliz said while pointing to him.

"Half of the reason was to put us on the right track for our mission. We also needed some supplies from the nearby tundra edge town and I wanted to personally revisit this site, it's been at least ten years since I've last been here."

"Oh yeah?" Xaliz scoffed. "Supplies with what money?"

Shank dropped the sack and plucked out a small gold coin.

"This should be enough to get a tera orb." Shank said while fidgeting with the coin. "I need an ice-type terastalization in order to make it through the tundra, seeing as how I'm a dragon type."

"I was wondering how you'd get through it. I guess money solves any problem."

Good to know economics is no different here than on Earth.

"Actually, you might not have to buy one." Nala spoke up. "We just got off watch duty, I'm here with a couple other mons who I'm sure would spare one for a mission involving a Lucario."

Nala called out to a pair consisting of a froslass and a machoke.

"Gwen, Frosie."

"Yeah?" The machoke shouted back. "Come here, Frosie wants to show you this-"

"I get it, she loves flowers." Nala rolled her eyes. "Come here, it's important."

The machoke stumbled over and grumbled when he saw Leo before staring disappointingly at Nala.

"You're gettin' fooled by another Zoroark." Gwen griped at Nala. "Here, let me prove it to you."

Leo received a quick impulse to step back just in time to dodge a swing from one of the machoke's arms. He detected another but he lost his footing and tumbled onto the concrete floor.

"Gwen, relax!" Nala shouted at him. "I know Xaliz, he wouldn't lie about it. Why do you punch everything you see?"

Gwen backed off and allowed Leo to stand back up. Nala brought Gwen over to Xaliz and told him about the tera orb request.

"If you trust him to actually be a Lucario, I'll give 'em a tera orb." Gwen relented.

Gwen unequipped a backpack and fished out a dark purple sphere, tossing it to Shank.

"Much appreciated." Shank said, extending his tail as a token of gratitude.

Leo fidgeted with a small rock on the floor of the building while his companions spoke some more. The seconds were beginning to eat away at him, and with every minute the daylight was slowly diminishing.

"Okay, we really need to go now, we're almost out of sunlight." Shank declared, as if he was reading Leo's mind.

The garden had mostly cleared of any foot traffic by then, enough to make Leo feel more visible amongst the remaining pokemon. They parted ways with the small group they met and Shank meandered through the garden's exit. Where the flower's reach stopped, a rough path begun, marked by a giant wooden sign.

CAUTION: Extreme temperatures beyond this point. High insulation or cold-resistant typing mandatory.

"Alright," Shank muttered, clutching the tera orb, "I haven't used this thing in years, so here goes nothing."

The orb suddenly ignited with a bright light. The light trickled out of the orb and encapsulated Shank with a light blue hue, before dissipating instantly.

"Surprised I still know how to use them." Shank chuckled, if only for a moment before looking up at the sky. "We've got two hours maximum left before nightfall, let's make the most of it.

So much for a tundra, it feels like I'm walking in Greenland.

The fur that coated Leo's body kept him from being dangerously cold, but the hike was still uncomfortable at best. Without shoes, Leo made a point to keep walking, even if they had to stop momentarily, so as to not press against the frozen ground. Thankfully, there was little wind, and the elements were remarkably tame for the biome.

A light snowfall began as the sun started to set. If the prior sunset Leo had witnessed before was beautiful, the one in the tundra was absolutely award-winning. Though it made no sense for northern lights to appear at such a high latitude, they did regardless, and was probably the least sci-fi thing about Veras anyways. In fact, the northern lights seemed to sharply enhance his aura without overloading him with it, which enhanced almost every other sense in turn.

The terrain was slightly frozen with some snow patches here and there sprouting from the light snowfall, but the more irritating part was the rolling hills.

Whilst climbing one of the hills, Leo was hit with a sudden wave of aura, blinding him and knocking him to the ground for a second.

"Whoa, hey, Leo!" Shank hovered over to him as he recovered himself. "What happened? You alright?"

"Yeah- I don't know what happened, I just-"

Leo was interrupted by another wave of aura, except not nearly as intense as the first one, and seemed to match the aura that emanated from living pokemon.

"I don't know what's happening." Leo said while catching his breath. "It felt like it came from over there though."

Leo pointed to a slightly steeper, forested hill to his northwest. The initial shock wore off and he jolted himself back up as the chilling sensation of laying on the frozen ground began to climb up his nerves.

"I can go check it out." Xaliz volunteered.

"You really ought to not use your wing." Shank replied. "It could-"

"Yeah, yeah, it's just a short flight."

Xaliz didn't wait for Shank to reply and leapt into the air. The flight, however, was not so graceful, and Shank muttered "I told you so" as he stumbled through the air

"You should talk more." Shank taunted Axel whilst waiting for Xaliz to return. "You've been really quiet for a Bisharp, your kind are usually the loudest in the room."

Axel thought for a minute before responding. "What's there to talk about? I'm not like any of you guys. Xaliz can fly, and apparently cook whoever he wants, you're a walking pokedex, and Leo is a Lucario."

Here we go with the unnecessary bickering again.

"Classic, you have impostor syndrome. I can assure you, I am not as professional as I might seem. Xaliz has only burnt straw dummies and I'm just an old outcast."

"Not to mention I've only been walking on this planet for less than 72 hours…" Leo mumbled.

Xaliz made a surprise landing behind Shank, frightening the dragapult into losing one of his metal dreepies.

"Serves you right." Xaliz chuckled. "My wing might be broken, but my ears ain't."

"So funny." Shank growled as he fit the dreepy back in place. "Did you find anything out there?"

"I think it was a power spot collapse. It must've caused a massive tremor because there's an alolan ninetales pinned under a small tree."

"Such is life... let's get a move on-"

Xaliz slapped Shank with his wing. "I'm sworn to commit to rescues, that's kind of my whole job. We're saving the damn fox."

The snow began to pick up as they meandered their way to the hill adjacent where Xaliz claimed to see the ninetales. As night crept closer and the lights began to fade, the true chill of the biome revealed itself, and not even the fur coating Leo could insulate him from the freezing climate any longer. Axel and Leo hovered near Xaliz's tail flame in hopes of seeking warmth, though the temperature still sapped their heat faster than they regained it.

As they crept up to the site Xaliz had described earlier, the ground became fractured like a desert. The snow now quickly ramped up and blanketed the ground in a thin veil of white, whilst obscuring vision beyond a few dozen feet. Xaliz pushed aside a fallen tree and found the ninetales lying unconscious, with its hind right leg and tail crushed beneath the tree.

"Axel, can you chop the tree on both sides? Leo and I will lift it off the ninetales."

Axel obliged and drew back his claw before unleashing a quick strike, slicing part of the tree cleanly off. He repeated the action on the other side of the tree before sitting on the part of the log he chopped to catch his breath. Xaliz instructed Leo to lift the right side of the tree and they slowly hauled the tree off the injured ninetales before letting it roll down the hill.

While Shank applied a potion to the crush wounds of the ninetales, Leo couldn't help but see the parallels between the unfortunate ninetales and himself.

Knocked around by forces beyond our comprehension. Maybe we could make a squad and kill god for what he's done.

The ninetales slowly stirred to life, albeit still dazed. It tried to run at first, but a combination of its still mangled hind leg and the realization they were there to help made it calm down enough to stop and lay down.

"What happened?" The ninetales asked as it gazed at its leg, barely managing to speak coherently.

"By the looks of it, you were right in the middle of a power spot collapse." Xaliz replied. "You're lucky to be alive, and even more lucky that you won't be losing that leg, seeing as how I found you so early."

The ninetales paused for a moment to take in Xaliz's words before weakly thanking him and began to hobble away.

"So, now it's nearly sundown, where exactly do you plan to sleep in the middle of this snow?" Axel pressed.

Xaliz and Shank both shrugged.

We should've just gone into the tundra tomorrow… too hasty.

"You're welcome to stay in my den for the night." The ninetales called out after overhearing them, causing a notable de-stress in the group. "Follow me."

"You wanted to abandon her." Xaliz quietly chided Shank. "Maybe you could go sleep in the cold tonight."

"To be fair, you made it sound like she was like, crushed crushed." Shank retorted. "I'm not the one who scouted after all."

The ninetales led them around with a limp for a little while before she arrived at a concealed cave hidden amongst the rocky hills. She carefully undid the camouflage before limping into the remarkably spacious living quarters.

"I don't usually let in outsiders," the ninetales said with a hoarse voice, "so the cave isn't really fitted properly for them."

"That's no problem." Shank replied while making himself comfortable in a small corner of the cave. "Can't complain about a service I'm not paying for."

"You paid for it by saving my life." The ninetales weakly chuckled. "I wish I could give you more, but unlike ya'll with your large sacks, I don't even know if I'll be able to find berries during any given day out here."

Though the cave offered significant respite from the elements, the temperature was still bone-chillingly cold. Additionally, Shank's tera orb began to lose its icey glow. The nightly cold and the now lack of movement even began to make even Xaliz shiver.

"Hey, S-Shank, mind handing o-over the tera orb?" Xaliz requested whilst rubbing his wings together. "I've got an idea."

Shank hesitated, but eventually tossed him the orb.

"I'm going to t-tera fire. It should heat up my tail flame enough to emit a lot of heat while also keeping me w-warm."

Xaliz ran the idea by the ninetales who agreed, albeit requesting to stay on opposite sides of the cave so as to not overheat her. This time, when the orb was used it turned a vibrant orange before doing what it had done to Shank hours before, with the results fortunately being no different than promised by him.

After the heating issue was rectified, Axel volunteered to make the ninetales a makeshift splint, reassuring his expertise by citing first-aid training from his nurse mother. The ninetales agreed and allowed him to check the leg out.

"The bone is really badly fractured." Axel muttered while inspecting it. "It'll take at least a good week to fully heal, even with the potion."

"By the way, my name's Novilla." The ninetales said in between winces. "I'm an exile from Icsh, if you know where that is."

Shank perked up after hearing the town name. "Getting banned from that town is nothing special, they'd ban a fletchling for perching higher than they can jump, those egotist leaders. Anyways, my name is Shank, the Bisharp is Leo, the Lucario is Leo, and the Charizard is Xaliz. We're just hoping to spend the night here and beat the tundra by the afternoon of tomorrow to climb the resistance mountains."

Axel finished probing Novilla's fractured leg and began chiseling at a large branch he plucked from the cave floor.

"If the splint works, I'd be more than happy to escort you there." Novilla offered. "I can feel the snow will be continuing onto tomorrow, possibly into mid-day. I wouldn't expect you could see very far, and I know all the dangerous spots to avoid- assuming you're outsiders to the tundra."

Axel eventually finished his splint, putting it around Novilla's leg before teaching her how to use it. Leo tried to prepare a corner of the cave to sleep, but despite his utter exhaustion from the day's events, one thought kept him from sleeping. Ironically, however, it would be the same one that kept him from complaining about sleeping on the cold stony floor of a cave.

I'm getting closer to coming back Anna. Just hold on a little longer, wherever you are.

The crew made preparations to sleep, and Leo quickly found a spot where the warmth from Xaliz's tail flame made him feel comfortable enough to try and sleep. Though he was still cold and stressed, the sheer exhaustion from the day finally took him out anyways.

Leo woke up in relatively good shape considering his sleeping location. His arm had pins and needles from resting his head on it all night and his fur was all unkempt, but he was just happy he didn't stab himself with his spikes in the middle of the night.

Is it even morning yet?

Xaliz's tail flame was no longer emitting as much as heat as it once did, which apparently Leo adapted to in his sleep as he curled up into a ball. He suddenly heard a faint noise coming from the cave exit and turned to see Shank sitting, apparently humming a tune to himself. Leo rubbed his eyes before sitting upright, capturing the attention of Shank.

"Psst." Shank whispered, drawing Leo's attention. "Did I wake you up? Apologies if so."

The other three inhabitants of the cave were still fast asleep, and Xaliz was snoring lightly. Leo stood up to peer outside of the cave, but it was still dark out.

"Sun'll be up in ten or so minutes." Shank informed Leo. "I'll give them a few more minutes of sleep, they're probably going to need it for today's adventure."

Shank resumed humming to himself.

"What are you humming?" Leo asked. "Just curious, I've never heard any music from this planet."

Shank sighed. "It's nothing, just a song an old friend made. I hum it every morning in his honor."

Leo didn't press any further out of respect. Shank plucked a berry out of one of the bags he had been carrying and split a berry in half before handing one of the halves to Leo.

"Salac berries are by far my favorite ones. I don't know if you've had one, but I'm sure you'll love it."

Leo took a bite and instantly agreed. The flavor and texture was that of a grape mixed with a sugar cookie, which was a surprisingly good tasting mashup.

Leo took a swig from Abaxa's steel container to wash it down. He missed the soda-like juice Abaxa had given him now that he was delegated to only water, but the sweet taste of the berry he was given more than made up for it.

"You're always up before me." Leo observed.

"Ghost types like myself only need two to three hours of sleep." Shank mumbled while taking a bite from the berry. "If you learn to meditate before bed, you can achieve the same results."

Leo's interest was piqued. "How do I meditate? How does it work? Do I just-"

"I wouldn't try until you can toss aura spheres." Shank paused Leo. "It requires moderate auric mastery, and you're still in the basics."

Another thing I don't intend to stay long enough to be able to do.

The sound of Axel's blades scraping against the rocky cave floor alerted Leo and Shank to his awakening and they wished him good morning before Shank tossed him the rest of his berry.

"It really snowed out, huh?" Axel said, gazing out at the vast blanket of white covering the once-green landscape.

Shank nodded. "Snow's gonna resume soon. I'm surprised it even gets high enough temperature out here to melt it sometimes."

As the sun cracked above the surface, Shank went to take up Xaliz which woke up Novilla with the commotion.

"Leaving already?" Novilla asked as they began to repack what little they unpacked in the cave.

"Not yet." Shank grunted as he slung the backpack over him. "Xally, why don't you give the ninetales some breakfast?"

"Do not call me Xally." Xaliz scowled.

He handed a smaller berry to the grateful ninetales who quickly wolfed it down. She prepared her splint to leave with them, and after a few minutes more of consolidating their stuff, Shank put on the ice-type tera and they began to move.

The air was immediately much warmer, despite the snow forecasted by Shank and Novilla. The snow had already come to around two inches thick, but Leo's insulated paw feet were resistant to it, enough to make it tolerable to walk in without shoes.

I'm definitely not gonna miss walking around barefoot when I get back to Earth.

It was only after about 15 minutes of walking that the snow began to fall again as the sun finally peaked over the horizon. Thanks to Novilla, the snow's visibility blocking effect was more or less nullified as she led them through the tundra, even if at a suboptimal pace given her injuries.

I can't believe there's literal magic here and they still haven't invented shoes and jackets.

Despite the setbacks, the constant breaks they had to take because of Xaliz or Novilla needing a small rest, and Leo's increasing irritability at the snow coating his fur, they were making good time across the tundra. As the snow cleared and the forest pathing resumed as they exited the tundra, Novilla informed them that she needed to get back to her cave to scavenge for food.

"Thank you for your help." Shank said as he wrapped a small pouch around her tails as a gift. "There's some small berries in here, I wasn't sure what else to give you in return. These berries specifically should help heal your leg faster."

"It was the least I could do, good luck on your journey past the mountains!" Novilla called out as she scampered away.

"There, I've redeemed myself for almost leaving her to die." Shank mockingly said towards Xaliz.

Leo finally got a good look at the size of the mountains once they had a chance to rest, but the more he looked at them, the queasier it made him feel as his fear of heights began to irk him again.

I guess I didn't really realize that mountains are, well, mountains…

He sat down to cool off from the stress, to which Shank confronted him about his activity.

"What's wrong now?" Shank questioned Leo. "Aura?"

Leo laid out his thoughts to Shank, who quickly brushed off his worries.

"You think some rocks are gonna hurt you?" Shank sarcastically chuckled. "Hell, you could probably fall from the top of the highest peak of the mountain to sea level and not die. Not kidding. The biggest danger you face here is yourself."

Easy for you to disregard, you can hover.

Under the anxiety of his own stress, Leo hadn't realized the aura of two figures until they snuck up behind them and confronted them.

"Freeze!"

Leo glanced behind him to see a corviknight and a glaceon on guard, ready to attack.

Xaliz stomped towards them, as if daring them to do so. "Head Guard of Vemine, Xaliz. Declare who you are or become a potato chip, up to you."

They have potato chips in Veras?

The corviknight rolled their eyes, but loosened their guard. "Addrell's 18th guard, third rotation." The corviknight flashed an emblem ironed onto its wing. "Can't fault us for doing our job, you're taking a restricted route without authorization."

"We can grant authorization, but we need to know why you're here." The glaceon chimed in.

Xaliz pointed to Leo. "This is all the information you need. Our mission is classified, and we're not explaining it to some Addrelians."

The corviknight was visibly irritated, but he seemed to realize he was outmatched and ushered the glaceon on his back before lifting to the skies.

"Hey, that reminds me." Xaliz spoke to Shank. "What exactly is the mission?"

"We'll come to that when we get there-"

"We need to have a plan." Leo interrupted. "Or at least I do. Unlike you guys, I've been here for less than a week."

Shank sighed. "Alright, I relent. I had a plan in mind, but I was trying not to build animosity between us. Our two main objectives are to bring Leo home and seize the town of Horma from the rebirth."

Xaliz immediately protested, but Shank shut him down.

"You said you would keep Leo safe."

"I do, I just don't want to provoke the rebirth-"

"I'm gonna say the quiet part out loud. The rebirth was going to fight your and your city regardless, so why not seize the initiative by taking one of their key towns?"

Xaliz let out an irritated huff, but didn't press further.

"I'm in with the plan, as long as Horma isn't razed in the process." Axel spoke up. "It is my hometown after all…"

"I can't promise that." Shank replied. "We won't do anything destructive, but the rebirth is the rebirth."

Axel seemed to understand, but as they prepared to begin walking again, Leo heard the faint flapping of birds from behind him.

Oh god, they're back.

The corviknight had returned alone, tailed by a pidgeot and a talonflame. Though the formation looked ominous at first, Leo's aura betrayed their true, less confrontational intentions. They both landed simultaneously before the pidgeot introduced themselves.

"My name is Juvin, head of the resistance mountain posts. Been a while since we spoke, hasn't it Xaliz?"

"Didn't even know you were out here." Xaliz replied. "Why'd you come out here though?"

"Plimma said that ya'll had a Lucario, and I had to see for myself." Juvin admitted while slyly inspecting Leo. "Our post is less than a minute's flight from here, I thought you knew that."

"Actually, I had an idea." Leo asked Juvin. "Would you mind flying us over the mountains?"

"That's a good idea." Shank chimed in. "Xaliz was injured and his wing still isn't fully healed, he can barely even fly himself much less carrying someone. I'm far too old and frail to carry either of them myself, not to mention I can't really fly that high. If you all could, it would save us possibly an entire day or two. I could even pay you for the trip."

"Sure." Juvin said, turning towards the corviknight. "Please escort the bisharp to our bunker on the other side of the mountains, Plimma. I'll take the Lucario. No payment necessary, we're just doing our job."

"You're not even gonna question them more?" Plimma vented. "Whatever, hop on, bisharp."

Juvin beckoned Leo towards her while she adjusted her saddle.

"You know where the bunker is, right?" Juvin asked Xaliz.

"Yep. We'll meet you there later today."

Xaliz and Shank took off towards the mountain while Leo was still trying to figure out how to fit onto the saddle.

"Fit the straps around your arms as tightly as possible and wrap your feet around my lower body. Try not to let go mid-flight, I don't know how well these straps will hold you if you do."

It took multiple tries for Leo to successfully harness himself, but once he did the pidgeot took off. Though the ride was still scary, Leo knew what to expect from when Xaliz flew him to Horma, which took a lot of the nerve off of flying.

"Make sure to hold tight, it'll be a maybe 15 to 20 minute flight so we'll have to take a few breaks in between."

You'd love doing this Anna, you little daredevil.

Leo clutched the harness tightly as the pidgeot weaved in between the massive mountain peaks, slowly finding a hidden thrill in the dangerous sport. Actually, he wasn't sure if it was just the thrill of flying or the majestic beauty of the mystical forests that littered the mountains; both were equally likely.

It only felt like ten minutes before they were at the bunker, even with the multiple small breaks of a couple minutes the pidgeot took. Leo's expectations of a concrete bunker were quenched when they arrived a barebones cave, though it was at least stocked with plenty of amenities. Axel and the corviknight arrived not to soon later, though the pidgeot and corviknight had to return to their post, leaving Leo and Axel to themselves.

"I think the burns are fully healed now…" Axel guessed while peeling off the last remaining bandages on him. "Just in time for our arrival, huh?"

"I forgot you even had bandages."

Axel gave a half-hearted chuckle.

"We should duel." Axel prompted Leo while finishing the last bandage. "I wanna know what it's like to fight a Lucario-"

"We definitely should not do that."

"Alright, fine, some other time." Axel groaned in disappointment. "Booooring."

"If you call not wanting to get needlessly injured boring, so be it."

The pair sat in the bunker for a couple hours waiting for Xaliz and Shank to arrive. Leo desperately wished he had his phone, especially since he was a news hawk; it had been almost a week in Veras, though it felt like an entire month. The time spent waiting for Shank and Xaliz was mostly spend pondering what he would do first once he got back to Earth.

Surely by now, someone's noticed me and my sister is missing. Even if I won't be found, maybe they're already searching for my sister. Maybe they found her.

Leo desperately prayed now that his guess on who the kidnappers were while he was walking to Vemine was real.

Maybe the government did take her, though that wouldn't be very constitutional of them. Or tactical, for that matter. Actually, the constitution doesn't really stop the government that often, does it?

Leo's musing was interrupted when his name was called out from outside the cave, along with Axel's. They exited the "bunker" and reunited with the now tired and exhausted other half of the crew, though they remained resolute enough not to rest.

Shank guided the crew down the remaining hill before they merged onto a path with an eroded and worn arrow sign.

Horma, 1 mile.
Mountain Trail, 0.3 miles.

Leo almost wanted to sprint towards the city, but he held himself back. As they walked closer and closer, the occasional house sprung up, which they made sure to hide away from, even though there was little sign of any life. After a few more minutes of walking, they got to the city gates, which portrayed a chaotic scene of ruin, to Axel's dismay.

"Well then." Shank commented, taken aback. "Looks like someone got to the city before we did."

Quick reminder that I'm always looking for constructive criticism on my work, positive or negative. I want to write better. Thank you!