LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 44 - Flying Off
Chapter 44 – Flying Off
“I am the king of the wooorld!”
“Skarr?”
“What are you doing?”
“Sorry I’ve always wanted to try that.”
Strangely enough I wasn’t experiencing bouts of acrophobia even though I was high up in the air. It probably had something to do with being carried aloft. I never had any problems flying inside commercial airplanes either. The only thing that made me nervous about this situation was that I knew for a fact that a skarmory’s feathers were extremely sharp, one false move and my pants or even my underpants would get cut to ribbons. I didn’t want Winona’s first impression of me to be that of a shameless streaker.
Being high up in the air gave me an unrivaled sense of freedom. Seeing all the trees and small houses pass us by made for a breathtaking view of Hoenn’s natural landscape. Tranquill was enjoying herself as well but had to pace herself a bit in order to keep up with Skarmory’s travel speed.
‘This view is the major benefit of having a flying type on your team. Being able to span the entire breath of the whole region within one- or two-day’s worth of flight. If I ever visit Indigo, I will be sure to catch myself a charmander.’
Skarmory didn’t have to take us far since Winona’s house was located in the center of town. The armored bird Pokémon gently landed us on a custom-built landing platform attached to a medium sized tree house. Now it was my job to get off Skarmory’s back with as much grace as a bloated trapinch.
“Okay... here I go…”
Skarmory tried to lower its center of gravity to make sure I didn’t cut myself, but I could not avoid having my left pantleg cut. To avoid embarrassment, I now had to pretend this was a deliberate fashion choice for the rest of the day.
“Skarrr…”
“It’s okay kids as short as me shouldn’t really be riding around on large Pokémon in the first place.”
“I could’ve helped you get here!”
‘Yes, but trying out new things is fun besides… people would start asking questions.’
“Are you ready, Tranquill?”
“Quill!”
“Skarrr!”
Skarmory poked its head into the open windowsill and called for its trainer with apparent success. A woman’s voice responded back to the Pokémon mildly surprised judging by the tone of voice the person was using.
“Skarmory is that you? Shouldn’t you still be at the gym’s rookery?”
To avoid surprising the house’s residents I announced myself.
“Excuse us! I am Egon from Lavaridge town, and this is Tranquill. I exchanged emails with you regarding her possible adoption by the Fortree gym.”
“Tranq!”
“It’s you two! I was wondering when you would show up. Wait just one second!”
Various rumbling noises could be heard, the hallmark of an impromptu clean up. Figuring that this would take a while I started interviewing her Skarmory for all sorts of gym scoops.
“I didn’t know sky battles were a thing in Hoenn. Do you two often battle against trainers who bring their own team of flying types or levitate using Pokémon?”
“Skaaaarrr.”
“Not that many but her trainer insists on switching the format of their gym battles when challengers substitute into a flying Pokémon of their own.”
The league’s official battlefields restrict how much of an advantage flying types have since the battle is confined to a small area. Flying and Water type specialists often rail against these rules because it mitigates their Pokémon’s innate advantage of being able to move in three dimensions as opposed to their landlocked opponents. The league found a compromise with the water type specialists stipulating that battlefields with drifting platforms were fit for use. Flying type specialists never received that same luxury.
“What kind of polish do they use to keep your armor plates that shiny? ”
Before Skarmory had a chance to respond the door opened and a woman’s voice answered the question for her.
“Wet sandpaper, mother’s magnemite aluminum polish and lots of elbow grease. We only need the polish if she hasn’t been cleaned up in a while.”
The person who answered my question was obviously the Fortree city gym leader Winona. She was wearing her trademark set of clothes. A leather cap with sewn in aviator glasses and a baby blue jumpsuit with stylized feathers at the edges.
“It’s nice to meet you Egon and Tranquill. My name is Winona and I am the Fortree city’s gym leader.”
“Quill Quill!”
Tranquill immediately hopped off my arm and landed on top of the woman’s shoulders giving her lots of loving head bunts.
“Awww I like you too! Such a well-behaved girl. All those trainers who didn’t want to catch you were complete idiots.”
“Quill!”
“Why don’t the two of you come in? Don’t mind the mess though I almost never get the chance to clean up.”
“Sure! I’ve always wanted to see the insides of one of these tree houses.”
Winona guided us inside her home and unlike some of the bigger buildings this one wasn’t centered around a tree but attached to one. If I had to describe Winona’s place in a few words I’d say small and cozy. This wasn’t the kind of building where you could keep large Pokémon thus explaining why she kept her Skarmory at the gym. The walls were decorated with posters of numerous flying type Pokémon from different regions. She even had a large cabinet where her numerous trophies and accolades were displayed. She had the key to the city but also a silver medal for being the runner-up at last year’s Ever Grande Conference. The mess as she described it wasn’t as terrible as I anticipated but it wasn’t a minor one either. This house seemed more like a place to sleep at night than a home. Winona’s trainer career probably took precedence over keeping this place sparkly clean. Which I couldn’t fault her for, being familiar with a gym leader’s busy schedule during the circuit.
“Just sit anywhere, do you want anything?”
“Water please.”
“Quill!”
“And some berry juice for the lady.”
Winona left for the kitchen trying to be a good host while I went through all my mental preparations in order to deal with the emotional turmoil of saying goodbye to a trusted friend and companion. Me and Victini had ruminated on this topic a lot seeing as how she was the one to suggest bringing Tranquill along with us in the first place. In the end I decided that I was okay with it so long as I knew that she would be left with a person that would take good care of her and helped her with achieving her goals as a battler. Victini took this opportunity to float out of my backpack and hug the bird Pokémon to let her know that she would be missed.
“Vi Vi!”
“Quill…”
Both Pokémon being fast friends said their tearful goodbyes to each other. Unlike the rest of the team Victini always made sure to spend some extra time with her feathery friend. The two of them would often fly around together and pull off hijinks.
“Now now… You two can see each other as much as you like when Victini figures out how to teleport to Fortree city. Just because you are not traveling with us doesn’t mean that we are no longer friends.”
My passing observation calmed the two down somewhat. Before they could properly sort out their feelings with each other, we heard footsteps coming out of the kitchen. Victini quickly turned herself invisible dove down in between two pillows.
“One glass of water and for you and for the prettiest bird Pokémon in the room a bowl of berry juice.”
“Tranq!”
Tranquill happily took sips from the offered berry juice bowl while I did the same to my glass of water.
“Thanks, Are you particularly familiar with her species? My Unovan Pokédex has all of the relevant information compiled by their regional professor. Diet, habitat, potential abilities, known moves and the like.”
“I have a passing familiarity with all flying type Pokémon but reviewing verified research done by a Pokémon professor is always worth it. We can go over all the relevant information if you’d like.”
“Great, I was also wondering if we could visit from time to time? One of my other partners and Tranquill have gotten really close, and I’d hate to break the two up.”
“Of course! You wouldn’t even have to visit my house since we keep most of our Pokémon at the gym. Still if Tranquill is as ambitious as you say she is I am sure that she will become an eighth badge gym Pokémon in no time.”
“Uhmm I haven’t seen Tranquill battle as often but based off some of her clashes with Pokémon living in the wild I’d say she is about as strong as fourth badge Pokémon at least.”
“Quill!”
“Okay, maybe fifth badge level. She’s also really good at getting along with other Pokémon. However, she will pick fights with Pokémon she believes to be at around her level or stronger.”
“That’s perfect! There’s a rambunctious Pelliper that’s always causing trouble at the gym which I am sure she will get along with. Flying types like her who are extra feisty just love duking it out with similarly minded Pokémon. Now… What’s her favorite type of berry? Where did you find her? I want to know everything.”
“She found us on route 7 in Unova near the Celestial tower, Tranquill likes any sort of spicy berries but hates sour tasting ones. If she hasn’t battled in a while, she will fly off to have sparring sessions with wild Pokémon.”
“Does she do well working as part of a team?”
“Quill!”
“She’s the best. When I am not available Tranquill keeps watch over our newly hatched team member.”
“Last question; why did you choose to ask my gym to take care of Tranquill?”
“Fortree city gym staff are the foremost experts in regard to flying types. Naturally the best place for her to develop her skills as a battler would be here. If she was just looking for companionship I would’ve kept her as my own Pokémon.”
Now feeling more certain about Winona’s character I let her know that I was ready to start the adoption process.
“So… should we head on over to the center to finalize the adoption process? My other companion got sidetracked playing with a wild Kecleon and we decided to meet up later at the Pokémon center.”
“Yes, the Pokémon center is just a minute’s flight away. We should probably finalize the adoption process before my boyfriend comes back from doing groceries.”
Before I had a chance to get up from my seat Skarmory who was still waiting outside cawed loudly to let Winona know somebody was at the door.
‘That must be Winona’s boyfriend. I wonder which guy was lucky enough to bag a dime like her?’
The front door opened and standing there was none other than Wallace, master coordinator and winner of last year’s Ever Grande conference.
“Winny darling I’ve come back to astound your Pokémon with a helping of my handmade pokéblocks!”
All my preconceived notions about Wallace were shattered at that moment. A man’s choice of clothes shouldn’t be taken as an indicator for his orientation, but I had fallen into that same fallacy.
‘The navel t-shirt and barret threw me for a loop. Tells me what I know about preferences there’s still a lot I have to learn it seems…’
“Now who is this dashing young trainer? And what a gorgeous Tranquill!”
‘And now I am confused again… best not to think about it.’
*At the Pokémon center
Wallace decided it was a good idea to come along with me and Winona to the Pokémon center. Both Wallace and Winona are famous figures in Hoenn but the citizens of Fortree city have grown used to having Winona around acting as their gym leader. Wallace on the other hand still had that novelty about him that dazzled passersby and he had the charisma to back up his fame. After taking his first steps inside the center he was already being crowded by groupies. Which in hindsight wasn’t too bad since it meant me and Winona could go about our business undisturbed.
“Welcome to the Fortree city Pokémon center! What can we do for you?”
“Adoption papers for Tranquill please. From now on she’s going to follow her dream of being a professional battler at the Fortree gym.”
“Quill!”
The adoption process of Pokémon was similar to how trading worked. The latter just being more automated and streamlined. All trades happened under the watchful eye of a licensed third party usually this meant a nurse Joy. After the signing you have three days to ask for a cancellation. Naturally this also requires the Pokémon’s consent, it used to be that the Pokémon being traded or given away had no rights at all but that had changed in the last decade. This could be regarded as a positive change, but it did enable a lot more black-market trading and poaching.
“Here you go. You need to fill out this form in its entirety and have the gym’s representative and Tranquill sign at the dotted line. We have an ink pad so Tranquill can leave an imprinting on the bottom of the document.”
“Thanks, nurse Joy.”
I went ahead and filled out the document under the auspices of Winona and Tranquill. As I was filling in my personal information Winona couldn’t help but get curious while reading the document.
“You only have two badges at this point in the circuit?”
“Yea… We were traveling through Unova to catch some more team members. There aren’t a lot of fire types in Hoenn.”
“You didn’t have any problems with their league association?”
“Figured out that my dad, who I have never met before, is an Unovan national. I took the opportunity to travel there and catch the native Pokémon without all the red tape.”
“All alone? You must be a very adventurous ten-year-old trainer.”
When I finished writing in all of my personal information Tranquill and Winona followed that up by signing the document with a signature and claw print respectively. Having not had the opportunity to give my own farewell to the wild pigeon Pokémon I took the chance to do so now, releasing all my team members to do the same.
“Come on out everyone!”
My entire team minus Victini materialized on the center’s tiled floor. At first they were a bit confused why they’ve all suddenly been called out like this but then recognition flashed their eyes as they saw Tranquill being held by an unknown trainer.
“Tranq…”
It only took them a couple of seconds to react to Tranquill’s nervous well wishing. The entire team grouped up around Tranquill and by extension Winona as well.
“Rupt!”
“Vuuuul!”
“Lit!”
“Dar!”
“Vess…”
The one among them that took the news of Tranquill’s departure the hardest was Halo. The newborn being mentally unprepared to say goodbye to a “court” member. Tranquill hopped off Winona’s arm to give the little bug type some extra attention. Wrapping her inside a warm feathery embrace. My release of the team brought about onlookers that were giving me looks. Technically speaking I wasn’t supposed to release any fire types outside of their balls in Fortree, but I was certain nurse Joy would look the other way for special moments like this one. After Tranquill finished hugging it out with the baby of my team I handed over her pokéball to Winona who recalled her newly received Pokémon.
“Vess?!”
“It’s okay Halo, we can go see Tranquill from time to time. This way she’ll be doing what she loves; kicking ass and taking names.”
With that I quickly recalled all of my fire types except Halo who I kept aloft within my arms. Letting her process the first time she had to say goodbye to a trusted friend.
“My… what an interesting looking bug type Pokémon. Have you ever considered entering her into any contests?”
Wallace showed up after having finished dealing with his fans. The national championship winner took an unusual interest in Halo.
“Maybe eventually, Halo’s only around a week and a half old. She seems to be mainly interested in battling at the moment.”
“She has the talent, a diamond in the rough I can tell. If you as a trainer ever become interested in participating in Hoenn’s number two past time, she’ll be sure to shine on stage. Winona dear let us depart.”
Taking her hand in his Wallace and Winona were about to depart when I suddenly remembered my other purpose for coming here.
“Leader Winona! I’d really like to schedule a gym battle with you!”
“With me!? Sure, but you only have two badges, right?”
“Yes, but could you schedule a fifth level badge match please?”
“Hmm I am full for the next three weeks so our battle can only take place at the end of the month. If you are fine with that, I’ll put you in our battle appointment schedule.”
‘Three weeks!? Well at least it's better than nothing I guess…’
“Yes please.”
“I’ll put you in first thing tomorrow morning. The exact date and time will be sent to you in an automated email.”
Just like that Winona left the center building with her boyfriend in tow. Gaining jealous glares from female onlookers for being the girlfriend of Hoenn’s most eligible man.
‘Well at least until Steven Stone makes his public debut. Now where in the reverse side is my flakey protegee?’
Flannery told me she would be playing with Kecleon in the center. Which meant she must have already booked a dorm room for herself. Not wanting to go the extra mile of exploring the girls’ dorm by myself I resolved to just call her pokégear. Scrolling through the contact list of the Xtransceiver mounted on my wrist I quickly found her name and gave her a call.
“Egon? Are you done playing around at the Fortree gym? Kecleon and my team are getting hungry.”
“Flanny, are you planning to catch Kecleon? Being the one that led a wild Pokémon inside the center you’ll be the one responsible if Kecleon breaks anything.”
“No…? Well maybe if Kecleon really wants to.”
“Fine, let’s all go and eat out at a restaurant. That way there’s no chance of Kecleon accidentally breaking into any room he isn’t supposed to be in.”
It took a while but eventually Flannery made her way out of the dorms together with the mischievous Chameleon Pokémon. Now that I was actively looking for the signs of the invisible pokémon I could spot a faint red line following behind Flannery. I motioned for the two of them to follow me outside of the center. Once we got out we had a semi-serious discussion on the topic of which dining place to choose from.
“All I am saying is that as a local Kecleon probably knows which places serve the best food.”
“Leon!”
“He knows the best places to lift food maybe. I still say we should have gone to the all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant two rope bridges over that way. They have cold noodles and 12 different flavors of ice cream.”
“Kecleon knows what he is talking about!”
“Fine…”
We approached the dilapidated looking dining place. The building looked abandoned with boarded up windows and several foreclosure notices posted on the front door. Even Flannery could not argue against the fact that this place looked shady.
“This is it…?”
“Kec Leon!”
The small creature motioned us to come inside using his tongue to turn the doorknob and then walking inside.
“Flanny, we still have time to go to the place I recommended.”
“It’ll be okay, I trust Kecleon.”
Choosing to have faith in Flannery’s ability to discern the trustworthiness of her new friend I entered the abandoned building. There was no way to discern my surroundings, so I released Orin to illuminate our path forwards.
“Come on out!”
“Lit!”
“Hey buddy can you stick outside with me for a while? The lights of this place don’t seem to be functional.”
After hearing my request Litwick’s flame started shining with more intensity than usual lighting up the entire room in shades of pale blue.
Now finally getting a clear look at our surroundings we noticed multiple red zig zag patterns surrounding Flannery’s Kecleon friend.
“This must be some sort of safe house for their kind. No wonder the city council hasn’t removed or refurbished the place.”
“Egon be polite Kecleon has invited us to his home.”
“Sorry, excuse me for my lacking manners. My name is Egon from Lavaridge town and this is Orin. We are pleased to be invited into your lovely home.”
“Leon!”
With the encouragement of Flannery’s friend the rest of their gang slowly dispelled their own camouflage making us able to recognize just how many kecleon were living inside this abandoned building.
“Egon, there are six of them!”
I wasn’t all that interested in their number. The one thing that held my attention at the moment was my hungry stomach.
“Just ask them what’s on the menu I am starving and so is my team.”
At my mentioning of a prospective meal. Flannery’s Kecleon started a heated debate with the rest of his friends.
“Leon!”
“Leon? Kec!”
Seeing as this building only housed these kecleon I felt that it was safe enough to let Victini out of her backpack. She slept through almost the entire trip to this place so after a few pokes from me she woke up already knowing what we needed her to do. The floating rabbit stretched her sleeping muscles a bit before engaging with the group of Pokémon.
“Vi Tini?”
“Leon!”
“Flannery’s friend wants to have a picnic together with us as thanks for all the berries she fed to him. The group is concerned that we will empty them out of their stockpiled food.”
“Ehh that’s a reasonable concern. We are with a lot of Pokémon that also need to eat. This place was somebody’s home once. If they have a table that’s clean enough we can prepare today’s dinner.”
The gathered Kecleon collectively let out a sigh of relief. Before their leader the one Flannery took up with guided us to a disused kitchen. Checking out all the drawers and cabinets I noted that these Kecleon must be scavengers since their hoard was filled with knick-knacks you would most commonly find on traveling trainers.
“You know you guys could ask local rangers for help with providing your group with a safer living environment. There’s nothing wrong with staking it out in a league managed corral. There’s free food and lots of other Pokémon to interact with. I am sure a lot of regional professors would be interested to study your kind.”
“Leon!”
“Freedom! We can’t become lazy!”
“Hmm then how about helping me cut up these berries?”
Now that Victini was awake and able to translate for us we slowly came to understand more about these Kecleons’ circumstances. Their main method of survival relied on pickpocketing tourists and afterwards selling the proceeds of their ill-gotten gains for berries and the like. They wouldn’t mention the man who facilitated all of this, and we avoided asking. The populace surely knew what these Kecleon were up to, and they hadn’t deemed it necessary to intervene. Mayhaps those pilfered items would find their way into the lost and found bin at the Pokémon center. We really didn’t have enough information to properly judge their dealings as good or bad. I finished preparing our meals and since all of the kecleon offered to help with the food preparation I didn’t mind letting them have a berry or two for themselves. They supplemented those berries with some generic store-bought Pokémon food fit for normal types and made a proper meal out of it.
“Are there any interesting secret spots to be found around Fortree? Any other groups of Pokémon that live in the city perhaps?”
“Leon!”
“They say the eastern route has a beautiful lake that they visit whenever the weather is nice. There’s a tiny cave right at the center where rumors say a dangerous Pokémon lives but all they could find was a colony of zubat and golbat.”
‘That must be the scorched slab… then that Pokémon should be…’
My errant thoughts being picked up by Victini resulted in a heated one on one debate within the privacy of my mind.
“No way!? We got to check it out!”
‘Absolutely not! That particular Pokémon species is known to be dangerous. The one inside Stark Mountain was sealed for a reason. Besides, we don't even know if that rumor is true or not.’
“Scaredy meowth!”
‘Look… if after this circuit you still want to go explore that place, I’ll be right behind you. For now, we are incapable of dealing with the consequences if that Pokémon turns out to be a raving lunatic.’
“So beside that particular lake have any of you guys spent time at the Weather institute? I hear it’s at the forefront of new meteorological breakthroughs in Hoenn and they even created a manmade Pokémon named castform. Their ability to change forms based on the weather seemed to have garnered much interest in the scientific community.”
“Egon, stop trying to change the subject into a boring one. I want to hear more about this dangerous Pokémon! Besides, no normal wild Pokémon would visit something a mind-numbingly boring as a weather institute.”
“Kec!”
“The older Pokémon living there say that the rumored Pokémon used to be active but that it went into a comatose state after the cave’s lower levels filled up with water.”
‘Filled up with water, eh? Guess we aren’t getting down there any time soon.’
After hearing that the cave’s lower levels were flooded, Flannery's interest in the topic seemed to have faded. Underwater exploring was best left to trainers traveling with water type Pokémon. The kecleon continued on mentioning the numerous sightseeing spots surrounding the city. Interesting from a Pokémon’s perspective; like where to find the best tasting berries or good hiding spots. They eventually mentioned something that did gain my interest.
“Leon!”
“Just off the route in the northern mountainside live a pack of absol. They are kept from living on the route proper by the league because the local humans believe seeing one is a bad omen.”
“Baseless stereotyping is still a thing? Just to prove those people wrong when we visit route 120 we’ll keep our eyes out for any local absol and spoil it rotten.”
“Egon are you crazy!?”
“Flannery, not you too?!”
“Well Grandpa always told me that when you meet an absol in the wild you make a run for it, because something bad is going to happen to you.”
“Absol are just warning people! You wouldn’t beleaguer any wild psychic type using their divining ability to give you a warning. Ugh.. whatever we’ll find a wild absol and I’ll prove without any doubt that Absol are not deserving of their bad reputation.”
We finished up our meal with the kecleon and wished them well before setting off to the Pokémon center. It had been a long day and I was eager to get to bed. Flannery wanted to stay for a little while longer, but I convinced her that we had to get up early tomorrow. Reaching the end of route 120 would take about two and a half day’s travel on foot and the route was famous for its packs of wild mightyena. We needed to have our wits about us when traveling and camping out in a potentially hostile environment.
“Egon, how much does diving equipment cost?”
“Hush you!”