On the Wings of Death

Why Procrastinating from Entering Zubat Roost Is A Good Idea

Zapdos' storm lasted for an entire day before fizzling out entirely, as if it had never been there in the first place. Harry woke to clear sunny skies and twittering Pidgey and Fletchling.

Since there wasn't particularly much to do left in Camphrier anymore – except Shabboneau Castle, which to be honest he wasn't particularly interested in – he started Route 7, Rivière Walk. In the distance, he could see a golden tower rising towards the sky – Parfum Palace, most likely.

Rivière Walk was an absolutely massive east-west route, and most people usually spent two days traversing it even though it was perfectly straight, no twists or turns. There was a good reason it was Kalos' longest straight road, and as the name suggested, it followed the straight section of one of Kalos' many rivers. Harry had taken a good long look at a tourist guide in the Camphrier Pokémon Centre before he'd set off, attempting his best to memorise the map. He wasn't particularly interested in Parfum Palace, so he'd probably skip that and Route 6 altogether. The Berry Fields, though – well, Berries were always useful. Always.

Then – well, Cyllage City was said to be right after the Connecting Cave, so at least there was some kind of incentive to go through hell. Harry really couldn't understand trainers with Zubat. He tried, sure, but – Zubat. The universally despised menace to the cave traveller, the pest of nearly every region. Unova was the only place where Zubat were rare, and they were trying to keep it that way – Zubat extermination-relocation squads, or something like that. Zubat were also among the most numerous of Pokémon, along with Rattata and Geodude. Magikarp probably was on the list as well, but Magikarp didn't really bother travellers. Zubat and Rattata and Geodude did. A lot. Maybe Geodude a bit less than Rattata and Zubat, but still. He'd had years to debate the issue, and he still wasn't sure whether he admired Zubat trainers or thought they were crazy. They had to be a mix of both if they were raising cave menaces.

There were a few Artists on the route – really, the Trainer system was baffling, but it worked somehow so he wasn't about to complain – who challenged him to a battle. All of them had Smeargle. The Sketch was annoying – Harry didn't think he'd ever hear the phrase 'Sketch it back!' before these Smeargle – but it gave Honedge a good workout, gave him a bit of spare cash, and broke up the monotony of plodding down the longest straight road in Kalos.

Occasionally Fletchling would flutter off to talk to some of the wild Fletchling. Harry didn't mind – considering he was practicing his roller skating on this route as well (Ralts had very helpfully retreated to her Poké Ball, leaving only Honedge out) it was probably for the best that Fletchling found something else to do. He was getting better, yes – but at his current level, the chances of crashing face-first into Shalour's battleground were about ninety-nine percent. Harry would prefer it to be around zero percent.

Skating right next to the river was probably a rather stupid move, but it gave Harry incentive to continue in a straight line instead of doing zigzags like he usually ended up doing. Unfortunately, it meant that he was ridiculously prone to being startled by wild Pokémon surfacing.

Which was exactly what happened when a Goldeen breached the surface to talk to him; he gave a very unmanly yelp and crashed, barely remembering to crash forward instead of backwards. Thank Arceus for safety precautions.

Ralts popped out of her Poké Ball, stared at him, stared at the Goldeen, stared at him again, and then sighed. See, this is why I didn't ride with you today, she muttered, releasing a halo of Heal Pulse that instantly made Harry feel better.

The Goldeen stared at both of them, fins rippling. If you're trying to continue, it (he?) finally said, there's a glutton ahead. It's blocking the path. We've already had to ferry a few past him.