Chương 45: 45-Wings

"Alright, increasing my own reaction time and rate of speech is a must. But I still think we need to press more information into my calls." Amelia grunts, trudging up the hill." Just calling a direction works fine when we assume you can never be surprised, but if we don't plan for someone figuring out how we communicate they will take advantage of it. Otherwise, one day I'll call south and mean there's a surprise attack but you'll jump straight into it." Tanya sighs.

"Yes, a good idea, in concept." She says with a nod.

"But right now you have maybe one syllable in most circumstances. If you see an attack coming from behind me and we've agreed that 'attack south' is what you should say to communicate that, all I'll hear is 'atta' which only tells me that I'm about to get hit."

"That's just not true." The 'mon blinks at the flat out denial.

"... Oh?" Amelia nods.

"Sure, for Combusken that's true, but I've thought about it a lot and I just can't see any way I could have really helped there." She admits, flipping through her notebook until she lands on the after action report for the Wattson fight.

"His trainer was giving tactical advice, which you can obviously handle. But look here. With Jolteon you managed to keep him at a distance and he had to pause to charge up his ranged attack. When you control the close range I do have enough time." She says, then blinks and taps the report consideringly.

"... Huh. That was…." Tanya squints, mentally dissecting her partner's argument to find the flaw.

"... Yes, I admit I exaggerated how much time you have to communicate where those communications would be most useful. But the example you just gave also proves that context and tone gives me enough information to act on my own– heads up." She interrupts herself as the tiny speck in the sky rapidly grows larger in time with an airspeed whistle.

As the whistle grows louder and hider pitch, the speck resolves itself into Taillow, falling straight at the ground with wings and talons pressed tight against his body while barely extended tail feathers rapidly twitch to keep his dive from turning into an uncontrolled tumble. Then as he falls into the treeline, his wings twitch open the smallest amount, creating an enormous amount of pressure on their leading edges.

An area of pressure that begins to glow as he flares his wings out fully, slowing from top speed to a near stop in under a second with a hissing scream of effort. Until, with yet more strength drawn from shivering wings, he brings them together in a clap and two glowing blades of wind erupt out from him. Carving deep furrows in the dirt for almost three metres before exploding into dual clouds of dust and puffs of wind.

Taillow, consequently, is sent flying back with the force of the clap, tumbling in the opposite direction before coming to a stop with wings splayed out and head in the dirt. Tanya abruptly stops as Amelia spins on her heel and starts to rush toward him." Taillow! Are you alri–?"

"I did it!" The 'mon crows, voice muffled in the dirt before he pulls himself out, displaying his wings in victory.

"Ha ha! I finally did it!" Amelia stops as Taillow folds his wings with a wince and hops over to the scars in the dirt.

"Look at that!" He continues, hopping onto the trench his attack made and marveling as he reaches a talon town at its deepest point.

"They're bigger than me– awk" He's cut off by Amelia picking him up and hugging the 'mon close to her chest.

"Good work Taillow!" She shouts, holding him up to eye level.

"I knew you could do it!" Tanya gives a quiet congratulatory hum as she reaches up slightly to press and arm against the 'mon where he hangs in Amelia's outstretched arms and presses a pulse of healing energy into him. Mauville had lots of rules around training within city limits, one of which being an upper and lower height limit a 'mon can fly, alongside a specific restriction on swooping or diving.

Which posed an issue to Amelia's plan to 'jump start' Taillow's attack by getting the majority of the pressure needed with a dive. Apparently it's a common way to teach his line the move if he's struggling.

"I'm told that this was the hard part." Tanya muses, pulling back her arm.

"Now it's just a matter of shortening the dive and improving accuracy." Taillow nods, wiggling out of Amelia's grip and climbing up to her shoulder, his trainer giving a scratch under the beak as he settles.

"Take a breather." She orders, transitioning the scratch to a stroke atop the head." Really try to remember what it feels like and then get climbing for another run. Using type energy is just another muscle, it'll get… easier…" She trails off, staring at the 'mon as he opens one eye in minor confusion, then looks back to her notebook and begins flipping through it.

Looking over Amelia's shoulder, Tanya sees her come to a stop at the comprehensive report Tanya had made on her fight with Combusken, running a finger down the detailed play-by-play." Huh, this really is useful."

She mutters before looking over at her partner and tapping a line.

"Here. You said you created a zone of gravity with yourself as the origin point, because it was faster. Isn't that just the normal form of gravity?"

"I believe so." Tanya nods.

"Why not just… always do it like this? If it's faster." The 'mon tilts her head, trying to figure out what she's getting at, because this has been explained already. Eventually she gives up, concluding her partner just forgot, and tries to explain again in greater detail.

"Because it wastes orders of magnitude more energy, exponential relative to my opponent's distance to myself." She responds, gesturing a circle in the air.

"My method uses marginally more energy and computation to create a zone of equivalent size to the static method, which I'm able to move and get the same effect with a fraction of the expenditure."

"Unless you miss." Amelia states, flipping to another page.

"Unless I miss." Tanya confirms.

"Which is the point of practice." The trainer hums, squinting down at the pages, then digging around in her bag until she pulls out Tanya's medical file, the basic information having been updated at Mauville. However, after a few seconds, she seems to come back to herself, closing the file with a snap and turning back to her partner.

"Sorry. Yes. Where were we?" —-- –_– —--"So… why are we doing this again?" Taillow asks, tilting his head.

"I don't get it." Tanya sighs as she's forced to start from the top for the third time.

"It's called a watch rotation." She says slowly.

"It's a method of scheduling when we sleep to at least one person is always–""No, I understand what we're doing." Taillow interrupts, shifting slightly on his perch.

"I just don't get why I've got to wake up in the middle of the night to sit here watching you two sleep." Out of the corner of her eye, Tanya sees Amelia nod emphatically, so the 'mon sighs and tries to figure out how to answer this tactfully.

"... If we're all asleep it will be extremely easy for us to be caught off guard, and near certain we're not prepared to avoid any undesirable outcomes." She starts, but before she can explain further Taillow's eyes widen and he cuts her off.

"Wait! Hold on! This is that forest murder thing again!" He shouts, prompting Amelia to twitch in surprise.

"Hold on, I caught part of that. Did he say murder forest?" She asks with an alarmed blink.

"Well, I'm not sure where you think we are," Taillow continues, ignoring his trainer's interjection.

"But I've lived in this forest my whole life and no one bothers you when you're asleep, because they're asleep!" Tanya squints in consternation, delicately trying to balance what she knows to be true without upsetting anyone with graphic details.

"You also had nothing valuable to take." She starts, approaching from a different angle.

"We have several bags full of food and desirable items. You are, in fact, a good example of those risks." Taillow fluffs himself up in embarrassment and begins preening under his wing, avoiding eye contact.

"W-well, I did it during the day, you're supposed to be ready for it." He mutters, fluffing his feathers again.

"Mom was very stern about not messing with humans too much when they're not ready for a fight. Otherwise the rangers start poking around, and no one likes that." Realizing that she's not convincing Taillow on this, Tanya turns to her partner.

"Amelia." She starts, inadvertently cutting the confused looking trainer off before she can speak.

"Remember the Dustox? We have personally seen evidence of the risks of not keeping watch." There's a beat, and the trainer winces, putting on a sympathetic expression.

"... Sorry Chansey, I'm almost positive that Dustox was just attracted to the fire." She says, gesturing at the dying coals of their own fire as the twilight fades to true night.

"The forestry advisories specifically say not to have bright light sources over an hour past sundown to avoid attracting nocturnal 'mon like Dustox. Remember?" Tanya blinks as she realizes she does remember that, but mentally filed the information as a contributing factor instead of the main source of the problem. Which means, regardless of how much the advice actually reduces the risk, she's lost Amelia on this too.

"Ah…" She mutters.

"Alright then." She'd hoped that the addition of Taillow would make organizing a night watch easier, but it seems to have only made it more difficult. Unfortunate. Keeping watch by herself will be straining, not to mention untenable for the entire hike, but perhaps tomorrow night she'll be able to– If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"Chansey…" Amelia sighs with exhausted irritation.

"If I wake up tomorrow and see that you didn't sleep all night again, I'm not going to break down camp until I see you sleep eight hours, then I'm gonna put you in your pokeball and tie it shut tomorrow night so you don't exhaust yourself again." Tanya blinks slowly, willing the wave of indignation to ease and reminding herself of long practiced lessons on dealing with people who are clearly in the wrong to the detriment of their own safety.

"... Is that an order?" She says neutrally, prompting both Taillow and Amelia to wince slightly. After a slow breath and searching eyes, the trainer buries her face in her hands and groans.

"Chanseyyy, this is silly." She grumbles into her hands, almost desperately, before looking back at her partner.

"The forestry service thinks it's safe, no journey guide I've ever read asks for a night watch outside of a safari zone, Taillow used to live here and he says it's safe." She counts off on her fingers before dropping her hands into her lap with a sigh.

"I'm not going to hike and train up a mountain with any of us on less than a full night's sleep, please let's just go to bed?" Tanya flicks her eyes between her two traveling companions, to the fire, then to the silent woods surrounding them. When Amelia phrases it like that, it sounds like she's the one who's acting irrationally. She sighs.

The 'mon can see why Amelia sees it how she does, it makes complete sense, and as much as Tanya tries to cut her own biases from other worlds away from her decision making, she knows there must be some bleed through. But those same advisories still warn of dangers, however remote. She can't p– They can't protect themselves from those threats if they're not aware of them. A watch rotation is a marginal cost to productivity in exchange for a near complete negation of risks.

But it's a marginal cost her traveling companions find completely unacceptable. At the same time… Tanya huffs, more firmly. They're not exactly wrong either, and she's not in a position to force a decision though that has been shot down by majority vote. She nods in a single movement and transitions that into a rocking motion to stand up from the fire.

"Alright. I agree with both of your reasoning." She says calmly, stepping over to her ground mat and blanket.

"No watch rotation tonight." Taillow gives a slightly nervous side-eye at her before fluffing his feathers slightly and settling into a more relaxed posture on his perch while Amelia hums gratefully and stands up as well." Thank you Chansey." She sighs, walking to her tent and clicking off her already unlaced boots.

"And listen, the first time a 'mon messes with us while we're asleep, for any reason, we'll set up a watch no questions asked. Alright?" Tanya makes an affirmative grunt as she wraps the cover blanket around herself and settles in before deliberately closing her eyes. —-- There are no signs of a 'mon messing with them while they slept, not even signs that anyone even stepped out of the treeline. So soon breakfast and the camp breakdown is complete and everyone is back on the road.

As they walk, they get back to their training, Taillow continuing to master air slash –and through it– flying type energy while Tanya continues to try and get multiple egg bombs in the air. She is making some progress, albeit slowly, as she can now have one 'primed' bomb ready to detonate and simultaneously have one egg with no energy, but that's a far cry from what it needs to be. However, it very nicely compliments the other thing she's been trying to figure out.

"Are you sure you want me to hit that egg?" Amelia asks, gently holding up the large piece of wood Tanya had ripped from a nearby tree.

"I heard you, but are we sure I'm not misunderstanding something?" Tanya nods, as there had been a misunderstanding.

"No, I want you to try and hit me, and I will try and reinforce the shell to block with the egg." She corrects. Amelia gently reaches out with the stick and taps the egg.

"... right." She mutters.

"If you're sure." Tanya nods, and with that her partner takes a breath, winds up, and throws her entire body weight straight at the 'mon's side. Before the stick manages to get even halfway the egg is in the way, intercepting the atta– Tanya blinks as she feels wetness all across her left side and a mild sting of something hitting her. Looking at herself, she sees that she's splattered in egg yolk and there's a stick pressing into her bulk, irritating.

She drops the pieces of shell still in her psychic grip and wipes the egg out of her eyes, noticing Amelia looking… surprisingly alarmed by the development. A moment later she feels an egg appear in her pouch again and she looks down at it. It didn't shatter with forces much greater than that. Perhaps it's because it was in her pouch? She'd also been using a lot of energy to reinforce and strengthen herself, she'd tried to do the same before removing the egg from her pouch but it didn't work. Perhaps…

With a thought, she reinforces the egg in her pouch as much as she can, then punches it as hard as possible without removing it. There's a deafening crack, and Tanya's left with an aching arm and a pristine egg. The 'mon nods, looking back up at Amelia who's expression has shifted to being unrecognizable. Back to basics then.

"Thank you for the help, but it's clear that this needs more testing." Tanya says with another nod, then winces as the scrambled egg interior soaks through her fuzz.

"We might need to pause so I can clean myself up soon though. Amelia nods, and Tanya makes a mental note to continue testing when she's got an easier way to clean herself.

—-- Following the break for Tayna to get most of the egg off, they barely make it another hour before their routine is interrupted by Taillow squawking out a call that sounds equal parts surprised and excited before abandoning his practice shooting off about a hundred metres ahead and flitting to a seemingly random area the trail, then hopping around on the dirt. As they catch up, Taillow looks over at them and scratches a claw into the dirt beneath him.

"Yea! It was right here!" He says confidently. Amelia tilts her head at the scratch in the dirt, then looks around at the trees surrounding them.

"Is… there something buried right–""No no!" Taillow interrupts.

"This is where you caught me!" His trainer furrows her brow for a moment, then her eyes widen before looking around at their surroundings with new intensity as Tanya does the same. Sure enough, now that she's looking for it, she can see a few of the key terrain features matching with her memory of the event.

"So it is." She muses.

"Good eye." Amelia looks considerably less enthused, offering a strained smile.

"Yep. Right here." She says, gently laying her palm on Taillow's pokeball with a forced laugh.

"Last chance to back out, I guess…" Taillow freezes at the words, glancing at his trainer's hand on his pokeball before launching into the air again with a squawk.

"Right, double team! Sorry!" He calls, fluttering back into the air with wavering duplicates shooting in every direction a moment later. Amelia blinks at the abrupt change in topic, hesitantly removing her hand from Taillow's ball. Then, after a slight pause, takes a step away from the spot, pauses for a moment, then continues on their journey. —-- –_– —-- Sighing, Amelia closes her textbook after reading the material she's going to be tested on at Lavaridge.

It's more review stuff, all about the basic ways type energy interacts with biology, the basic ways to test type energy and aura, then touching on the more advanced stuff about the interactions of energy and aura, the text waving vaguely at the complicated and intertwined nature of those two forces.

Now that the first test in Mauville gave her a good estimate on the level of rigor required to pass she's struggling with an increasingly loud voice in her head that says spending more time on material she's already learned is a waste. Glancing over at Chansey, she notes that her partner doesn't seem to think so as the 'mon stares at some papers in front of her with rapt attention.

However, looking closer, Amelia sees the graphs on the papers in front of the 'mon aren't in any of the reading material as she recalls, then she sees the textbook sitting closed next to her partner's bag and realizes it's not school work at all. It's those pages she'd printed off before leaving, the stock portfolio ones. Amelia stretches her arms and rises to her knees with an amused huff. Still odd.

"Looking at your portfolio?" She asks, looking over her partner's proverbial shoulder at the papers.

"Ch." The 'mon denies, shaking her head and flipping a page while simultaneously pulling another from the bottom of a pile and floatinging it up to her partner's face. Amelia furrows her brow and grabs the page, squinting at the words. It's a… research paper? Something about the interactions of various naturally occurring type energies in Mt. Chimney.

"... using improved scanning techniques and technologies to investigate interactions ground and rock energy have with the magma's natural energies in the proposed 'static pressure and dam' theory of the site's formation and continued stabilit– ugh!" She cuts herself off, tapping the page in front of her and looking at her partner.

"Chansey!? What is this?"

"Ans." The 'mon responds.

"Ans sey." The trainer blinks, looking back at the top of the paper and to the authors, all of whose name's she's never seen before, but then her partner floats a black and white image of some website with the name and contact info of one Professor Dacite, who she recognises.

"Oh!" She exclaims, tapping the page.

"He had an aggravated left ankle injury, right? Ligament tear?"

"Chansey Chanseychan."

"Partial dislocation, thank you." She corrects herself, looking back at the papers.

"This is what he's published recently? Him and his assistants?" Chansey nods, turning a page and squinting at the new block of dense text, and as she does Amelia looks back at her own paper, turning over this new scrap of information in her mind. This was published just a few months ago if the header is to be believed, so it stands to reason that he's still working on something related to this paper.

Perhaps this could even be an interesting side tangent on the full research that he'd been working on, the work that was stolen. This single page already gives a lot more credit to the idea that whatever was stolen is directly pertaining to Mt. Chimney instead of one of the more distant lava beds. The fact that it's about type energy narrows it further, but without more information she can't make any further inferences. Amelia blinks as she lowers the page and starts sitting down next to her partner, pausing.

The police definitely figured this out already, this is certainly just a massive waste of her time to investigate something she's certainly not contributing to. But… The papers sit there, shifting lightly in the breeze as her partner moves them around in a telekinetic grip. … It is the state of the art on type energy, the basics of which she's already supposed to be working on, but now it's more advanced, guaranteed to be something she doesn't know, and presented as a puzzle.

Amelia sits down next to her partner fully, accidentally pressing against the 'mon's bulk a little as she leans closer to the papers. She loves puzzles.

"Could you get me up to speed on what you're figured out so far?" The trainer asks, picking up one of the stacks and squinting at the title.

"Or just give me an order to read this stuff in so I can pick it up myself. This is making the fire stone theory seem a lot more legitimate." In the old days, people used to make fire stones by mining… some kind of crystal, then placing them in 'hotspots' for a few years until they become fire stones. Unfortunately, outside of a few smaller hotspots owned by old families, the biggest hotspots are owned by large corporations now. But, if she wants to be just a touch conspiratorial.

'new scanning techniques' seem like something that could have easily discovered a new hotspot just waiting for someone to use. Which would offer the criminals an almost infinite money printer by making an otherwise valuable and carefully rationed commodity, which is an even more valuable export to the rest of the world due to careful economic policy.

But as Chansey starts to explain, Amelia's attention keeps lingering on her extremely precise use of telekinesis, so exacting with her energy usage that there's barely even a glow. Chansey knows how to use psychic energy, and it's not an issue of lacking power… The thought is filed away, adding to the argument she's been slowly putting together since the fight with Wattson.

Chansey is stubborn, especially about her own training and style of fighting, so Amelia has one shot at this, so her argument needs to be perfect. Then a pile of papers floats in front of her, bringing the trainer to the present, so she grabs the offered documents and starts digging in to crack the puzzle set before her.