Chapter 29

Lane might not know how to teleport exactly, but she knew with perfect confidence that she and Elisa wanted to be anywhere but next to that helicopter.

Suddenly, they weren't. There was a sharp crack, then a rush of air as they fell. Lane caught herself easily, spreading her body and slowing to a hover.

Elisa didn't even have time to scream before she crashed into a bush of bright red flowers, crushing it and cushioning her fall. She rolled to the side, groaning from the impact. "Couldn't you have… warned me? Damn something hurts."

Lane zoomed down to meet her, sensing shouts not too far away. She looked up, back towards the abandoned observatory. It was maybe a kilometer away, but so plainly visible that Wyatt and the others were already pointing in their direction. She couldn't quite make out their words. "Go after" and

"legendary" were in there somewhere.

Elisa sat up, lifting one of her legs. "Well this blows. Think it's sprained.

Little help, Lane?"

Lane picked her up, though the effort cost her. Elisa was so heavy by comparison that flying her around took all her focus. Looking away even for a few seconds would drop her again.

"That wasn't very nice," said a voice from closeby. A green and white Pokémon squirmed out from the wreckage of the bush, glaring up at her with big blue eyes. "You killed it. What are you doing, firstborn?"

"Trying to get away!" she answered, squealing as the Rocket agents took off down the hill. A houndoom and a houndour were at their head, faster than their masters but no less determined. Lane flew, leaving the indignant shaymin behind. Now wasn't the time to get to know them.

She settled on Elisa's shoulder as she'd done before, standing on her hindlegs and occasionally glancing behind them. Despite what Wyatt had said

about the danger of this place, the Rockets and their Pokémon didn't seem to be having trouble.

She sped up, whimpering with fear. Alone, she could've easily gotten away. But carrying Elisa, she was losing ground fast.

"We could fly up," Elisa suggested, glancing over her shoulder at their pursuers. "Most people can't fly."

"They can!" Lane yelled, her voice desperate and panicked now. Though three agents were following them, Wyatt himself hadn't joined them. The helicopter lifted into the air, angling slowly towards them. But slow for a helicopter would be on them in less than a minute.

"I'm sorry!" she squealed. "I'm going as fast as I can!"

"That's not true," said another voice. Confident, bold, and somehow safe all at the same time. Cedar. "I've heard firstborn can break the sound barrier if they want to. It's those bubbles you make—they're overpowered."

She looked up, relief flooding her. She zipped over, hugging one of his forelegs. "Cedar! Please, you have to help us! Elisa and I… we're not gonna get away!"

He looked down, then licked her affectionately on the forehead. The gesture was so strange and unexpected that she nearly dropped Elisa. She probably would have, if her girlfriend hadn't squealed with surprise as she fell, giving Lane time to catch her.

"Since you asked, maybe. They’re breaking in. They won't get to you. Not allowed, I told you. Humans need permission, and they didn't get it. Yours didn't either, though. That's the real issue."

"She's not…" Lane drifted back, landing on Elisa's shoulder again. "Don't hurt her."

A shadow fell overhead. Even high above, the roar of the rotors became overwhelming. Wind blasted about them from either side, making her flight difficult to control. Lane landed, depositing Elisa on a patch of clear grass and hovering in front of her. There would be no escaping this.

"We won't hurt her," Cedar said. "In honor of our kinship, we will help her instead. You can both come with us, fly south to somewhere warmer and safer. Most humans only know about this one."

"That sounds great," Elisa said. Her face was bright read, obviously fighting with the pain. But she managed a curt nod. "They've got something on that helicopter. Is that a net?"

The houndoom probably should've reached them by now, Lane realized.

She twisted around, but couldn't see them running anymore. The three humans tearing through the brush had gone too, though she thought she could still feel them if she really stretched. They hadn't gone far.

But she couldn't sense anything clearly about them anymore. With dozens or maybe even hundreds of Pokémon hiding in this field, it was hard to feel just a few that were apart.

"Good, good. You'll enjoy the migration, firstborn. Flying is so much better with friends." He turned, and in that instant Lane saw over a dozen other creatures emerging from the plants. Green and white, just like Cedar.

They weren't hiding their feelings, either.

"Get away from our home!" one yelled. Wind began to blow, lifting up rather than getting blasted down at them. The craft strained, creaking as though it were about to shake apart. A wave of shaymin lifted from the plants all around, driving a wedge of wind ahead of them. Even beside it, it was so intense that it caught Lane, sending her spiraling sideways and tumbling through the air. She flipped over and over, before landing roughly in the dirt under a bush.

For a few seconds it was all she could do to squint out from the planter, watching the helicopter as it spiraled wildly away into the sky. She wondered if the shaymin were going to crash it, but no. After spinning for a few hundred meters, it was far enough away that it was no longer flying over the field.

Wyatt inside did not land again beside the observatory to search for his crew. Instead the helicopter turned, flying away over the mountains and slowly out of sight.

Lane remained there in the dirt for a few moments, crouching low.

Maybe the other Rocket agents would still be coming back. She closed her eyes and searched, feeling for their hostility. She couldn't find it. The shaymin wouldn't murder people, would they?

Would Korina have killed her friends?

Maybe she was better not thinking about it. There was a reason people stayed well away from legendary Pokémon most of the time. Even more than their less powerful cousins, they had abilities that could make even the most capable humans look like struggling children.

Lane brushed herself off, then emerged from the flowers. The clearing was almost entirely dominated with this shrub—nothing particularly

impressive, though the red flowers were pretty. Not to mention similar to the ones the shaymin kept growing from their bodies. Somehow.

Cedar landed beside her a second later, breathing heavily but looking immensely pleased with himself. "Well kitten, our home fields are safe again.

The machine flees, the ones they sent into this place will not tell stories to bring more. You can thank us now."

"Thanks." She didn't hesitate, even for a second. Lane wasn't sure if there was some way she was expected to respond, but she didn't really care.

She brushed up against the shaymin's forelegs, smiling at him. "I think I got a little banged up, but… that fall didn’t hurt as much as I thought it would. Oh, do you know any healing moves? Maybe you could help Elisa before we fly away. I think I dropped her wrong.

"We fixed her leg," Cedar muttered. "Other problems too, all fixed. You should thank us for that too."

Other problems? Lane lifted into the air, rising above the scraggly bushes, looking desperately for Elisa. She wasn't sitting where she expected.

"Elisa didn't have other problems."

"Not true." Cedar followed her through the air. His flight didn't seem to need any wings, yet he lacked Korina's grace. He wasn't warping gravity, and needed to catch himself and change directions with those oversized fluffy…

ears? Or did they still count as wings?

"We discussed this, kitten. Your mate was a bulbus human who went places humans can't go. Don't worry, we didn't punish her. We honored her instead, for your sake. If the firstborn aren't extinct after all, my clan wants friendship with you. Remember this when you grow up."

Her eyes narrowed. Cedar's attitude had been amusing before, maybe even endearing. Not anymore. "Where is she?" Lane scanned the bushes, searching for Elisa. Even if she'd fallen somewhere, she was big enough that she should still be visible. Maybe… there! A black leather boot emerging from the vines.

Lane zoomed off towards it, raising her voice as loud as she could. "Elisa!

Liz, where are you?"

"Here!" answered a familiar voice. It didn't sound quite right, but there was no mistaking the mind behind it. Exasperation as thick as the mountains behind them replaced Elisa's fear and pain. Lane could practically translate that taste into words now. 'Here we go again'.

"Humans are faulty," Cedar said, floating along behind her. "Fragile, deaf, annual. Now she's perennial. This is much better."

Lane searched, and of course there was no human to be found on the mossy ground. Only a gathering of leafy green Pokémon, with stubby white legs and flowers on their backs.

They looked so similar they were hard to tell apart—but one kept clutching at a pokéball almost as big as she was, and the others just watched with amusement.

Lane landed in front of her, at the center of the scattered clothes and gawking Pokémon. "Elisa?" she asked, nervous. It would be so much better if she was wrong…

"It happened again," Elisa said, exasperated. "Lane, I know the True-Myth Club weren't scientific experts about this stuff. But why didn't anyone ever tell me that so many Pokémon can do this?"

Elisa was smaller than she'd been last time. Probably still bigger than Lane, if only because of that furry back. Like one of those bulbasaur toys you could water until they grew grass on their backs. Lane hugged her anyway. At least for now, she didn't even care that there were so many Pokémon watching them.

"I don't think you were… bulbous," Lane said. "But I like this size better.

It's better than hugging your hand."