Warrior Eevees #1: The Storm of Fire

11- A Long Day's Flight

The wind beating into Emmy's face, her eyes streaming from the breeze, the view of the forest and meadows from the sky- it made her heart ache, she had done this a million times before. Sitting between Rogue's shoulders, leaning far out over his neck to watch the world flash by, she suddenly felt at ease. She kept silent, enjoying the faint trickle of memories returning with the simple joy of flight.

That's Fall City! she realized. It was behind them, now, they were flying away from the mountains- But she could see it in her memory! A beautiful grey glittering cityscape, with skyscrapers and a web of rows of buildings, greenery bursting out of every gap in the pavement, a chill breeze whistling down the alleyways. She had flown there many, many times, and looking over Rogue's shoulder, she half-expected to see it again at any moment.

Sycamore did not seem to share her enthusiasm. His hooked claws were digging into Rogue's feathers, his odd eyes stretched wide with terror, and his ears and tail lay flat back across the huge red back of the Flying-Type. He had crowded next to Emmy between Rogue's shoulders, his flank pressed against her side and his pelt fluffed out.

Sycamore had been terrified of flying from the moment that Emmy had mentioned it, but stubbornly insisted that he accompany her on her quest to find the Sky Tribe.

"You'd be crazy to go running off to find a Tribe you don't belong to alone," he had said with great confidence and determination with all four paws planted squarely on the ground. "I'm coming with you."

Seeing his horror of being suspended in the air with only Rogue's body between them and a mile-high drop, Emmy was even more impressed by his courage.

"What's the difference between this and climbing trees?" Rogue had asked with pained politeness when they took off and Sycamore tore out a pawful of his feathers.

"The tree's attached to the ground, and they also don't move!" Sycamore had said through clenched teeth.

Sycamore had remained silent as the sun swept above the tree line, Emmy assumed he was attempting not to throw up. Rogue seemed perfectly at ease lifting the two Eeveelutions. As ungainly and awkward as he was on the ground, in the air he was a powerful, graceful creature. He soared through the air, swift and true, with powerful wing strokes, his tail fanned to catch every breeze to his advantage, moving up and down and left and right and forward and backward with equal skill. His eyes, too, were very good, as he had reminded Emmy high in the Great Oak the previous day, and he called out everything that passed below them that he thought might be of interest.

"Ooh, a Vulpix!" he exclaimed, pointing with one talon, although Emmy had no idea at what. "And- Hey, that's one of the Pokémon Rangers that works in Fall City, wonder what she's doing so far out in the wilderness?"

Pokémon Rangers, Emmy knew somehow, were very important to her homeland. She kind of associated them with spending all day hiking and putting out fires, for some reason, although she wasn't sure how those two things were connected.

"Where are we going again?" Sycamore finally asked into Rogue's earhole.

"Hollyhock said that the Sky Tribe follows the rising sun for a few moon cycles, and then follow the setting moon after that," Rogue explained. "She thinks right now, they're traveling toward us after the moon, so hopefully if we keep chasing the rising sun, we'll meet up with them."

"How far away do you think they are?" Sycamore asked.

"No idea," Rogue shot forward with another beat of his wings and stretched them out on either side, soaring high and free in the tailwind they were riding. "I'll keep an eye out, you two just sit tight!"

"Oh, well, I was planning on doing a little dance or something," Sycamore muttered to himself, pressing his belly to Rogue's back.

If Rogue noticed, he didn't say anything. The Leafeon had gone rather pale in the leaves with stress, and Emmy whisked her tail down his back in some attempt to comfort him.