Chapter 14

Lane floated through the jungle, only bobbing slightly as she flew. So long as she didn't try to move too quickly, it was easy enough to keep herself above the ground while simultaneously moving forward. But try to move too fast along one axis, and she'd lag in the other.

"Do I have to find more motivation for you, kitten? I will let you eat meat if you do this. I'm not just saying that. It’s so much tastier than seaweed."

Korina bobbed along behind her through the early morning light, her coat a little disheveled from their makeshift sleeping arrangements and hours of flying. Lane expected her to take them back to Starfall for a warm bath and somewhere comfortable to sleep, but she hadn't yet.

"I am trying!" She turned, sticking her tongue out at the big mew. "A week ago I never could've dreamed of flying on my own! I deserve a little credit here!"

Korina shrugged. "A week ago you were human. Now you have to learn your powers fast enough that you'll have them when you need them." She floated easily past Lane, rubbing her head along her as she passed. For all her bold statements about the superiority of mew and how inferior all the other races really were, she sure acted a lot like an animal.

Lane didn't call her on it, no matter how embarrassed their closeness felt. She might be naked near a stranger, but the world was big now, and Korina's scent was stronger than her own.

"I thought distance was an illusion anyway. Couldn't we just teleport anywhere we wanted to go?" She dropped slightly in the air, scanning the jungle around them.

There was no denying that Orchidae was far more dangerous than the path to Atico. So many of the plants here were covered with jagged spines, or dripping poison. The Pokémon smells around her were bigger and stronger than anything she'd seen in the jungle there either.

She had seen a few gigantic carnivine wandering in the trees more than once, and seen the tracks of drapion as well. Pokémon that would've filled her with terror in her old life, and made her turn right around to run.

But they paid little mind to Korina and herself. Even as she floated there, an adult furret approached from the underbrush, sniffing at her. "You're weird," it said. "How are you up there?"

"I'm flying," she answered, before the strangeness of the situation could weigh on her any further. She looked back to Korina. "Are wild Pokémon safe?"

Korina joined her in the air, looking down at the furret. "Walk along somewhere else," she said. "I'm teaching my kitten, she can't be distracted."

The Pokémon squeaked in wordless annoyance, then bounded off into the underbrush. That doesn't seem fair. He was nice enough to talk to me.

If there was one good thing about this nightmare, being able to talk to Pokémon would certainly be on the list. What would trainers' Pokémon say?

Did they really like to fight, or were they manipulated and forced into battles, the way Team Plasma always said?

"Kittens need to learn to focus," Korina said, licking at her face with a large, wet tongue. Lane squeaked in protest, reaching in vain to push her away with stubby forepaws. It didn't work—she wasn't strong enough.

Besides, just like curling up in their nest, a deeper part of Lane didn't actually mind. "Pokémon have their uses. They can teach their abilities, those can be useful. If the environment is threatened, the local Pokémon will usually be willing to help defend it, even if they don't fully grasp what is happening around them."

Korina circled around her once, accelerating up towards the treetop. She didn't wait for Lane to follow this time, just pulled her along with no regard for her desires. She didn't actually mind—it was nice to get a break from flying after so many hours.

"Weaker Pokémon will never be a threat to you, even while you're young and feeble. When they are near us, they feel an echo of kinship. Some distant thread of genetic memory, reminding them of what they lost."

They broke through the trees, into a misty sky filled with birds and brilliant flowers. A flock of swellow passed overhead, their wings briefly eclipsing the sun.

"You cannot become reliant on that defense, Lane. When Pokémon get smarter, and more powerful, that feeling twists into resentment. Suddenly we

look like a challenge for their territory. With me around, they'll realize it's a challenge they can't win, and flee. But a kitten by herself—they might think they have a chance of killing you."

Lane looked out on the treetops, floating closer to a nearby fruit. She'd never seen anything like it before, but it was red and juicy, and she already felt exhausted. She plucked it herself, lifting it closer. "Elisa said there was no such thing as bad Pokémon, just bad trainers. You really think a wild Pokémon would just try to kill me for no reason?"

Korina caught the fruit in both paws, yanking it away before Lane could take her first bite. "This is mansh berry, you don't want to eat it." She tossed it away into the empty air. It smacked wetly against a nearby branch, before falling to the jungle floor far below.

"Listen closely, Lane. I know you grew up all sheltered and safe in one of those big human cities. That's going to warp the way you see the rest of the world. Pokémon are descended from people. They can be friendly, they can be loving… and they can be cruel and pointlessly destructive."

She circled around Lane in the air, expression curious. "I didn't expect I would be lecturing a human on the potential dangers of Pokémon. From the way you treat them, I thought you'd decided other Pokémon weren't people a long time ago."

You talk like humans aren't people too, what's the point? She almost said it—but then she caught Korina's eyes, and her confidence faltered. She didn't want to start a confrontation now, not when her friends' lives were on the line as well as hers. She couldn't stop the mew from reading her thoughts, but if Korina wasn't going to confront her… maybe she'd given up?

"I told you battles aren't like that. It's a sport. Humans fight for sport too, it's called boxing, wrestling, MMA. I dunno, maybe it's leftover from our primitive history, or… something like that. You can say what you want about it, but tons of creatures do it, not just us. I bet you and the other mew fought, back in the day. When they were still here."

Something had to kill them, and it wasn't humans.

Korina sighed. "I don't think so. I never fought my mom, or my aunt.

Maybe they did. But things never got that bad. When you can see the emotions of everyone involved, you know if you're hurting someone. You know if someone is building resentment towards you, or they're afraid of an experiment you've come up with. Mew have properly civilized relationships."

Like what you did to my friends? "So Elisa and Dominic… if they make it to that waterfall, does this end?" She gestured around her with both paws, though she had no idea what direction her friends were in. "Can they go home without you doing anything weird first? No screwing with their memories, or mine?"

The mew glared back at her, expression hard. Then she nodded, the gesture so small Lane barely saw it. "If they make it. Humans were right to forbid the deep jungle. There are old powers below, with ancient territories and fierce rivalries. They don't consider humans a threat, but they will act to remove annoyances. Your friends could be killed searching for you. Do you want me to erase their memories and send them home?"

For a second, she almost said yes. How could she live with herself if she learned that Elisa had been poisoned out here, or been eaten by an absol in a ditch somewhere.

But Elisa had seen that stupid note, and still chosen to go after her. If she decided for her that keeping her memories was too dangerous for her own good, was she any better than Korina? "No. But if you're going to put them in danger, then you should at least let me go and help. It's me they're trying to save."

"Help how, kitten? You can float—maybe that feels like a big deal, but you're still helpless. If that furret had wanted to eat you, it probably could have. You'd only be a liability to them—assuming your friends didn't just try to catch you and bring you back for study. Elisa is a trainer. I've seen enough of those to know what they're like."

She gestured out ahead of them, into the forest. "Here's your next lesson, kitten. I'm going to take my paws off you for a bit, see how you measure up. You haven't disappointed me yet, so… time to see how you do."

Lane caught herself in the air, though she had enough warning to be prepared. Her tail twisted nervously around one of her oversized back legs, looking up at Korina curiously. "What is it now?"

"I've had the most luck teaching you with instinct. You don't like being wet, no kitten does. You don't like being dirty, no kitten does. You don't like being hungry. You wanna fight? Let's see how well you fight. Most kittens don't like being squished."

Lane's eyes widened, and she jolted away, maybe a meter or so. But she didn't actually want to be away from Korina. Her friends were out here in this

jungle somewhere, it was true. But the big mew wasn't going to let them meet back up again. She couldn't risk defying her orders. Anyway, Korina was right about her weakness. Floating would get her away from some dangers, but plenty of Pokémon could shoot special attacks through the air. She needed a defense against them.

"I thought you wanted to keep me safe?" she asked instead. "Isn't getting me squished… a waste of all your hard work?"

Korina shrugged. "Probably. But you won't know for sure, will you?

You're going to have to fight like your life depends on it, because I might not come to save you. Just let that stew around in your head a bit. The danger is real. I might be able to get there in time to save you, or I might not. I suggest not tempting fate and saving yourself."

"But you haven't taught me anything!" Lane protested. "You said so yourself, I only know how to float! I can't defend myself by slowly levitating!"

Something yanked her down, pulling her by her spine so fast that she had no chance to resist. She kicked and squirmed and fought, conscious of the gigantic shapes of branches and leaves around her. She was going so fast, Korina was going to squish her long before she got to any danger!

Somehow, either by miracle or design, Lane made it through, then kept flying down. There was a clearing here, covered in struggling yellow grass that was barely bigger than she was. Lane dropped unceremoniously into the grass, and the grip of psychic power pulling her finally released.

"H-hello?" Nothing answered.