~~~ Ch. 34 - SkyArrow ~~~

I've been thinking the last couple days, after being in the presence of the Members of Creation, however short the period was. The Pressure they exuded, our boots were glued to the ground. It took all my strength just to get my pokedex pointed at them. I wouldn't be surprised if they were even holding their Pressure in, too. It was a valuable learning experience. I will be re-examining the stories in a new light.

- Doctor Hanlay

~~~

When Lanky set me back down in the basket, he set forward to cross the bridge. The basket was large, but I had to fold my leaf-dress under my abdomen, as the wires were cold. Birds flew across the bridge, some circling, others with purpose, going into the city. The vast majority of people were on the other side, going into the grand city we were departing.

The sun was in our eyes, and the steel suspension cables rose up, long until they blurred out, as far as my short-sighted eyes could see, turning into looming, shiny grey blobs in the limited distance. Some bikers heading into the city turned their heads at us as we passed them, as if they'd never seen a leavanny before. Birds crossed overhead, and I was weary. It was approximately an hour of soaking up the sun and misty ocean breeze, lazily watching the world around, for the stream of humans and their pokemon crossing the bridge, to eventually trickle down from a steady stream, to a more limited one.

The sun was up higher and almost, but not quite above us when Lanky took his first rest. With my purple shoes on, I just barely kept my legs from poking through the wires. Without them, my legs would stick right through the holes in the basket, at least until they hit the cuff-links below the leg-joint. Lanky held his hand out, and I grabbed his arm. He was covered by, and smelled like sweat.

As he set me on the ground, we were on a kind of concrete and grass outcropping, the ocean easily fifty feet below us, at least judging by the sound. There were benches, a small building, some vending machines, and— a water fountain. It was a strange little park in the middle of a bridge, but it made sense. Wingull and Pelipper floated in the air in circles, following the updrafts of the concrete as the bridge was warming up in the midday sun. One Pelipper dove down below the bridge. Oust and I watched as moments later they came out from below, their mouths notably fuller with water. Presumably having found their prey, they flew back under the bridge and disappeared.

"Leah!" Lanky said, holding the water faucet down, pointing his finger at it. I groaned. There were far too many birds in the air for my tastes. I wasn't too worried about them, but bug instincts haven't seemed to care about what I thought so far. Doubt they were going to change. I strolled up to the water fountain. Water poured out the side, spattering onto a covered drain. A little lever was at the base.

This place is thinking about pokemon.

I pushed on Lanky's leg, telling him to step back. He did, graciously. I stepped my left foot forward, my shiny purple shoes sparkling in the sunlight as I did. I pressed it down, and water came out! This place really knows how to design for pokemon! I thought, moving my head forward, screeching a little as my face was immediately covered in ice-cold water, some of it dripping onto Oust, causing them to squeak in surprise, looking up at me, as if to say "you betrayer!" I then squeaked a second time, when a trail of the ice-water rolled past him and onto my thorax. Lanky let out a chuckle.

I stepped back. I wasn't about to let this ice-water defeat me. I put my head into position, opening my mouth. Then I put my shoe down on the pedal, and lightly pressed it. A small trickle of water came out, satiating my thirst. I took my foot off the pedal, then pulled Oust out, holding his head under the faucet. He wiggled in my arms, resisting my attempts to give him water. Eventually, he stopped wiggling and I held my foot down, barely pressing it, as a drop fell down, he phased out of my arms and floated out of the water.

Fine, if you don't want a drink, I'm not going to make you! I thought at him, clicking. If he wanted to be thirsty, then it wouldn't be my problem. The cold water sloshing inside, I stepped away from the fountain. Lanky pointed at the bench where he'd parked the bike, and said, "stay there." He'd motioned for the restrooms, and while I was a bug and the smells inside didn't bother me as much as they should… I was content not to follow him into the boy's room. As nice as the mid-bridge rest-stop was, I had no desire to explore there.

So instead, I sat on the bench, watching as the occasional biker passed us. Most heading to the west, into the city, which was now mostly just a gray blur poking through the massive cables which were still rising, higher and higher into the east. A wingull landed several feet in front of us. Being a grass-type, and them being smaller than me when standing, I wasn't too worried, though if a pelipper took notice, my tone would change.

I was either too short, my vision was too far, but I could not see land in the direction we were heading. We'd already been on this bridge for an hour. The bird approached, stepping, their head wobbling, as I bobbed my shining, glinting shoes on the bench, my feet sticking out. Another bird landed. I pulled a pair of leaves from my cuff-link. My abdomen vibrated ever-so slightly, when a splash of water hit me in the face from above, and both birds grabbed my shoes, pulling me off the bench, my head bouncing on the ground, only protected from the blow by the leaves on my head.

I pull my right leg in, that assailant flapping their wings, hopping back with a squawk. I twist my body, their partner dragging me along the ground. It was only a moment, but they were gone again, a human shouting, waving their arms in the air, the birds scattering, flapping away in squawks. I stood back up. My shoes hadn't budged, Lanky had cinched their velcro tight. A small stream of water drills me in the head. This time though, I'm slightly disoriented. I still held the razor leaf in my arm. Looking up, seeing my attacker fly by, circling back for another spray, I launched my leaf at it.

A short "ghrk!" and they tumbled to the bridge's concrete on the other side. I turned to look at my rescuer- a bulky man with dark hair, a red and black uniform and hat. I returned to the bench, watching the sky a bit. They pulled out of their pocket, a dried fruit of some kind, approaching. The tall man sat on the bench next to me, giving me a piece of fruit. How could I say no? They both rescued me and gave me fruit! As I mashed the fruit, and my saliva began to digest the small meal, they eyed Oust, held in my sash.

They talked to me, presumably saying something like: "What have you got there? A kid, huh?" I know, I know stranger danger. Lanky still hadn't returned. A couple of cyclists pulled off on the other side of the bridge, waving at the guy who sat next to me, who waved back, which was a bit comforting. I pushed Oust deeper into the sash— no reason to make it too easy for someone to scan them with a pokedex, assuming pokedexes needed line of sight to work.

I wiggled my legs again, testing the shoes. They had managed to stay on tight. The person in the red-and-black suit got up and walked across the bridge, heading to the opposite side, leaving Oust and I after a short verbalization. Lanky returned, filling a bottle of water. He looked at me, back on the bench, and gave me a thumbs-up. Happy to have my partner back, and the birds gone, I hopped in the basket of the bike, and off we went, again. Only to stop a few moments later, as Lanky looked down at a bird, struggling on the cement, with a leaf in their midsection.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

He looked at me, then back down at the bird. Then back to the person in red and black on the other side of the bridge. They waved at each other, shouted some things, then we were off again. What I didn't expect was just how long the bridge was. We passed through the first rise-and-falls of the suspension bridge's cables. The bridge and journey not looking to end any time soon, I pulled my helmet down, closing it tight. A few hours later, I'd curled up as tight as I could, cinching together my leaf-helmet to protect my eyes, and slept in the day, soaking up the sun and sounds of the rolling concrete, a few clouds rolling in from the south.

My vision drifted in and out as I entered torpor, sleeping in my basket, letting my leaves gather up the energy I'd need for later. The salt in the air reduced ever so slightly, the murmurs of other cyclists and even a few motorbikes passed us in both directions, the torpor had been light. Lanky was slowing, coming to a stop. The evening sun was falling. We'd finally crossed the bridge, and entered land. Here, another set of restrooms and some fliers were out and about.

We weren't the only ones who'd stopped here, the clouds had moved in overhead. The air pressure was lowering, my thorax had slightly expanded, and was pressing up against the leaf armor. It was not going to rain yet, but soon, it would. Stopping the bike in the new rest area, Lanky shuffled, pulling his backpack forward, pulling out his jacket. He was getting ready for it as well. The temperature was dropping significantly, too. I looked down in my sash. Oust had disappeared while I'd slept.

I can't protect you if you run off.

I clicked, annoyed, rubbing my blade-arms together.

Thinking you can protect them. Tasty dream.

Shut up, I tell the inner-voice. I wasn't about to let inner doubts get in my way. With Oust, I had purpose. Something to protect. Without him? Without Oust? I had. I had Lanky. I had Leaf. I had Bonk.

Without Oust, you're j—SHUT UP! I said. No. I'm not just another bug. Besides, what's so bad about being a bug?

Bugs sprayed with pyrethroid fall to the ground, unable to move a muscle, paralyzed because the sodium holds their nerve channels open, and cannot be reset. You are just a bug.

If Oust had wanted to leave, there's nothing I could do to stop them. Still, it was nice, having them around. My head and vision was swimming as I stood up. The sky was dark, and I was sitting on a bench near a clearing of trees. No birds had decided my shoes were worth stealing while I'd been passed out. Lanky approached again, coming from the restroom, bottle of water in hand. On the bench next to me was a curious toy that smelled faintly of sugar, a multicolored cube stay there.with each side decorated in different-colored squares, and a piece of chalk.

Lanky held the bottle out, flipping off the lid, then put his hand in my mouth, lightly pressing them open—he'd never given me a drink from a bottle before. Ugh. But I was dizzy, and leaves floated in and out. I opened my mouth, and he poured a couple squirts of water in. The next moments, Lanky blurred, as he picked up the three items on the bench, putting them into his pack, full though it was. He pulled out the spray bottle the nurse had given him the other day, and sprayed me with it.

My vision slowly coalesced, the leaves fading. He picked me up, the dizziness and noise of the leaves reducing. We'd stopped. For how long? Lanky was holding me in his arms. Internal pressure, an uncharacteristically cold air chilling me from the inside reduced. With one hand, Lanky unzipped his jacket, and set me inside as he biked, continuing south. I kept my helmet clasped down, pulling to my trainer's warmth. The sky was getting dark.

How long had I been out? Had I been shivering?

The approaching rainstorm, the sun had crossed the horizon, and we'd hooked south, following the road, the number of travelers biking as fast as they could increasing dramatically. Where it had one person every few miles, people seemed to appear out of the woodwork. A number of large birds had launched into the air overhead, to the northeast, which presumably was our destination. We had hooked south, following the road, crossing into tunnels, passing people and their pokemon who had set up camp near the forest's wilds.

I hope you're okay, Oust. I thought. Thoughts and visions of Cebi, the celebi flying through the woods pervaded as we crossed through the large forest, with massive trees, when the first drops of the southern winter rain fell in. I pulled my head back in, and let Lanky zip his jacket all the way up. I wasn't keen on getting wet and washing off the miracle medicine. I pulled my arms together in the warmth, avoiding slicing his jacket up. I was the smallest Leavanny I'd met so far, and not even my crest of leaves had reached as high as the old-man janitor-man's mop. The rain began to pelt down, and Lanky's legs were slowing. He needed food and rest. A beep emitted from his waist, and Lanky pedaled harder.

The rain stopped hitting his jacket, and he pulled the bike to a stop. The pokeball had been beeping frequently by now. Voices of several people greeted us through the sound of rain, distorted by the tunnel’s echo. Leaf's pokeball was beeping. He unzipped his jacket, and I stuck my head out. Greeted by a shriek of surprise from a girl in red and black—dressed in the same colors as the guy that saved me and my shoes from the water birds on the bridge—her own pokemon, a green monkey stood in front of her. As if I was going to threaten anyone.

Lanky hopped off the bike, his entire body covered in sweat, water rolling down his face and the hood of the jacket. The sky was dark, but the tunnel was lit, an incredibly smooth dirt road running through the center. The concrete had ended and I hadn't even noticed. Lanky let me down, collapsed the bike into its canister-form, then released Leaf. The pokeball no longer beeping, he collapsed to the dirt, out of the rain and out of the main thoroughfare of the tunnel road. I smelled just like him. The monkey—a pansage, decided to ignore us once the ranger-girl relaxed.

A pair of swadloon were also in the tunnel, though on the opposite side of us. A pair of young girls were relaxing and playing with their own grumps. They smelled nothing like my nest-mates, though it wasn't an angry warning "DO NOT TRUST" smell like the venipedes had. Leaf had turned, and was watching, mesmerized at the falling rain. The other trainers and people stuck, hiding in the tunnel from the rain, turned to their own business, as Lanky pulled small packs of dried berries from his bag. He took a sip from his canteen, and chewed a thick bar, smelling of protein and minerals and saccharine sugars.

Once the three of us had finished our food, Lanky pulled from his bag two of the three items from earlier. The first one had four holes, one in the center, and three holes on each side. He held the center between two fingers, and gave it a spin, the noise drawing Leaf's attention. He showed it spinning to Leaf and I, holding it in different ways. He handed it to Leaf, who for some forsaken reason, decided to put it into his mouth. "No!" Lanky practically shouted, pulling Leaf forward, trying to lever the idiot's mouth open with his fingers.

I wouldn't want to fight my own chomps. I thought to myself.

Instead, to help our trainer, while Leaf is pinned down, I pick up Leaf's armor, exposing his abdomen, and give him a kick— "Ack!" The idiot gags, their mouth popping open, spitting out the spinny-toy, launching it into Lanky's face, pegging him in the eyebrows, covering him in leavanny saliva. I pick up the toy, and take it back out into the rain, washing off the remains of Leaf's saliva.

When I got back from the tunnel entrance after shaking off the worst of the rain, I held the spinner at the end of my arm, and was playing with it, spinning it in amusement at the motions. The girls that had their own swadlies were staring at me. When they saw me staring back at them, they looked away. Lanky, and Leaf, however, did not look away, much as I had wanted them to.

Lanky held up his phone and took a picture. Then, Lanky pulled out the leash strapped Leaf to it, the leafbug verbally whining at their predicament, then went to sleep, along with the other trainers. Unfortunately for me, I still had no idea where Oust was, and Leaf and I had both had more sleep than we normally get in days.

And I wasn't about to sit around and not explore a pokemon forest. It just—just didn't feel right. Especially with the energy from that potion and everything. I'd already sat all day in a basket. I needed to DO something!

The spinner was pretty fun, though.

I'd take it with me.