To Take Flight

[Sharr]

"It really is a beautiful day," Ruby said.

She looked like she belonged to this beach. She was dressed in a bright sarong swimsuit, her bare toes digging into the warm sand. The ocean breeze pulled her rich, blonde hair over her left shoulder, highlighting cobalt-blue eyes. She seemed effortlessly content, entirely unburdened by the weight pressing down on Alexander.

Alexander was not so radiant as her, though he was hardly ugly. He wore simple white shorts and a matching shirt. He shared her bright blue eyes, but his were framed by dark brown, shoulder-length hair and a face marred by a pale scar near the corner of his mouth.

It broke his heart that he was about to break hers.

"It's summer," he said. The excuse sounded pathetic even to his own ears. His Rufflet, Hamilton, perched on his right arm; Hamilton had made it easy to convince Ruby to leave her three partners behind, as Hamilton refused his ball regularly and was prone to picking fights with any, or all at once, of Ruby's three Pokemon.

"It's more than that." Ruby rolled her eyes at his dour response. "It's just the right heat, clear sky with… I guess that one cloud over there. The ocean's quite warm too." She squinted up at him, her smile turning critical. "You need some more sun." Alexander let out a huff.

"I suppose so." He wasn't that pale. "How is Helios doing with that new routine Juniper sent over? The one based on Alder's notes?" Her eyes lit back up.

"Amazing," she gushed, "he just figured out Flare Blitz yesterday." Alexander blinked. He didn't even think that was possible; but Ruby's Larvesta had always thrived with her, and with Alder's notes…

"Hey." She was bent forward, hand waving in front of his face. "You there?"

"Sorry, I was just thinking about Alder. You're lucky to get so much help from him," he said somewhat absentmindedly.

"Yeah, he's been a huge help. Anyways," she drew out, "as I was saying, is Hamilton making any progress? I know he's been in a mood since Digs evolved and started beating him." Hamilton squawked indignantly, hopping down to the ground and pointedly looking away from Ruby.

"Ah, quite a bit actually. We're still not too close to evolution, but he's putting his all into training. He's insistent that he will put Digs back into his proper place." Ruby let out a giggle, and Alexander felt the same mirth.

Hamilton took his rivalries seriously. Helios was a bug and so beneath notice, Prince was an aristocratic and decadent noble and therefore contemptible, but Digs, now an Excadrill, was a hated foe.

But his mood dropped as he watched a lone cloud seemingly come closer. He did not have much more time; he had to get it over with. "Ruby. I am leaving today."

She blinked, her smile faltering as she looked up at him. "What do you mean you're leaving? Mom expects us back for lunch."

"I am going to Hoenn. Unova isn't safe for me anymore; you know why."

Her eyes narrowed, the carefree girl vanishing, replaced instantly by the fierce glare of a former Gym Leader's daughter. "I don't think I do know why, Alex," she ground out.

"I think you do. Don't make this harder than it is, Ruby."

"No! You are safe here with us!" Her voice pitched up in panic. "What you did was wrong, but it wasn't a crime! Just—" She spluttered, searching for a sanitized way to frame it. "Hanging out with Plasma terrorists doesn't make you one of them. And nobody is going to arrest Mom's son. Not over something so minor!"

So minor. Perhaps; he had never donned the suit of Plasma, nor been named a true member, but it would be foolish to say he had no connections. He had spent nearly two years with one of their cells and considered real soldiers of the cause his best friends; and now both James and Luthor were dead. It did not feel minor.

"I have made my decision, Ruby. A friend is coming to take me; you cannot stop this." She looked so lost that it was an ache in his chest. Above them, the single cloud Ruby had pointed out suddenly fractured. The cloud was torn apart and began dissipating as a massive shape descended from the sky. Ruby gasped, stumbling back as a Tropius emerged.

"I will stop you! If I have to have Prince dra—"

Muscle memory took over. Her hand slapped her waist, grasping at empty air where her Pokéballs usually rested. She looked from her absent belt down to Hamilton who stood between them now, clicking his beak, the betrayal fully blossoming on her face as she realized exactly why he had convinced her to leave her team inside.

"I almost brought them anyways." Tears sprang to her eyes.

"Even with Prince and Digs you wouldn't be able to beat both me and my friend; I didn't want you hurting them trying to fight Thriti."

"You're wrong," she sobbed, tears spilling hot and fast down her cheeks. For a moment her fists clenched, she lunged forward, and wrapped her arms around his left side in a desperate, bruising grip.

A massive gust of wind kicked up the sand as the Tropius touched down with a heavy thud. Thriti stepped off the beast's neck. She was swallowed in black robes, her face obscured by a veil so that only her piercing eyes were visible.

"We have little time, Alexander," Thriti said, her voice sharp, carrying the rhythmic, rolling accent of the Mehravan exiles.

Alexander looked down at his sister, gently prying her fingers from his shirt. "I'm sorry, Ruby. I have to go." He stepped back and she did not follow.

"We need to go," Thriti said, a sense of urgency bleeding through. Alexander hoped the emotion was false, a part of the plan, rather than an indication of failure. But as he looked down the beach, he knew the Unovan Coast Guard was always watching the skies. His chest felt tight, long-simmering anxiety bubbling up.

The Tropius craned his neck back as Alexander started climbing onto its back, coming to look at Hamilton who had reperched on Alexander's arm. Hamilton liked very few Pokémon, but he'd bonded with the Tropius over the last year.

"Here," Thriti said, "hold on to this." It was a thin harness loop. Alexander sat and gripped the harness with his right hand and anchored Hamilton with his left, and Thriti came to sit just behind him.

"This is so wrong." Ruby sounded defeated.

"I love you, Ruby," Alexander said just as Thriti commanded the Tropius to take off. Green wing-like limbs beat, an upswelling of power, and they were lifting.

Ruby's response was nearly swallowed in the wind, a shouted, now defiant rage. "I will find you!" she screamed, "I will bring you home, I will make sure you-" and he could not hear her anymore. He watched her turn and run back inland.

---

"Please tell me that tone was faked, Soraya," Alexander said plaintively, dropping the alias she had told him to use.

"Mostly. We are pressed for time, and some Psychic was probing the ocean two miles out; it was a stroke of luck that Zarathustra was already shielding us." Zarathustra, a Kadabra, sat pressed against the neck of the Tropius with his eyes closed in meditation.

The wind was muted, far weaker than you would expect from these speeds and height; it was a native skill of the Tropius, though rogue gusts still broke through. They were surrounded by a sort of half-formed cloud the Tropius summoned as camouflage. Hamilton seemed alive up in the sky, far more animated and excited than he usually was.

So how are you getting us out of here? We will be pursued fast; my sister has probably already told my mother about us." He gripped the harness tightly and scanned the skyline.

"Deception," she said simply, and did not elaborate. Soraya was something less than a friend and more than an acquaintance. She had not been Plasma, but had run smuggling lines for the Cell he'd all but joined. Regardless he had come to enjoy her company, and Hamilton her Tropius, and trust had come even if true comradery had not. It was hard to call someone a friend when he had never seen more than her eyes.

"I need more than that!" It burst out after a few moments. "I trusted you enough to follow your instructions exactly; now that we are alone and on the way, can't you just explain it?" She let out a sigh and looked to her Kadabra; it made no visible response.

"We still risk Psychic attack, and Zarathustra cannot protect your mind as well as he can mine," she paused for a moment, her eyes narrowing beneath the veil. "Fine. In twenty minutes, you will strip and toss your clothes into the ocean. The Unovan Coast Guard uses Stoutland; if we leave a scent trail in the air currents, they will follow it."

Alexander thought on that for a moment, and then dryly said, "You brought a change of clothes, I presume?" She didn't deign that a response, merely gesturing at a bag for a moment.

"And the Pokéballs?" A low ache began in Alexander's head and he winced.

"You keep them on you as we bank North toward Johto. We let their electronic trackers ping our trajectory for exactly fifty miles. Then, you crush them and drop them in the sea; I have replacements for you. League Intelligence will read it as a panicked mistake: a teenager realizing too late that his gear is bugged, and an oversight by an inexperienced smuggler." An almost pink haze entered the corner of Alexander's vision. "They will scramble their pursuit teams North. As they think us entering Johto, we will be shooting South to Hoenn."

A spike of pain pulsed behind his skull, and then Alexander grunted. Soraya looked at him, confused, and then doubled over with a squeak. Zarathustra was humming.

A purple haze filled his vision; a great pink eye burned into his eyes even as he held them shut. The air vibrated, and he could hear the Kadabra chanting now.

Hamilton screeched in fear, trying to press his head against Alexander who now covered his face with clenched hands. A vast intelligence, a Psychic type of antiquity and long accumulated power bore down upon them; and yet it ended as soon as it came.

"I-is it gone?" Soraya said in gasping breaths. The Kadabra was back to a background hum.

"So soon," Alexander breathed out, still unable to open his eyes. "My mother must have been home already when Ruby got there; she was supposed to be away for another hour."

"What was that?" she hissed out, interrupting him. He pried his eyes back open, forcing them to reacclimate to the day. He stroked Hamilton's feather, calming them both.

"Mnemosyne. Her Metagross." She looked at him with wide eyes but then shot a look at Zarathustra. The Kadabra opened his eyes for a moment, locking gazes with her, and then closed them again.

"She did not know our location," she said shakily, "nor did she expect to face any psychic defense. Zarathustra diverted her, but only barely."

She grabbed the bag from before, tossing it over at him; he caught it with a fumble, sending her a disgruntled glance. "What if I dropped that over the side?" He unzipped it, finding a thick Mehravan robe and waist belt, and replacement Pokéballs.

"Just change into the robes, I want to change direction soon."