"Cinnabar." Riko's response was no-nonsense, and quick. "Even if we
factor in all the mind games, I think it's our best bet." With her
thoughts on the dragon escaping the ice and trying to reach them,
sending him astray, even just a slight chance of it, was worth it
in her mind.
Mystin nodded. "Then get ready to get on the water, because right
now, that's the only route of transportation that we have." He
bounced on the heels of his feet. "The problem is, how to get to a
ferry quickly before Xaiver finds us."
The Lugia soared above the Kanto region, making sure to keep low
enough at first that Xavier would be able to see her. Her plan was
to lead him away from the others, or at least throw him off a bit.
She knew enough tricks to loose him in the sky if that first option
succeeded, and once she got to the ocean, she would be untouchable.
The wind whipping against her face made her eyes water, and the
hollow feeling that had taken the place of her friends' presence
caused this to result in tears. This shocked her; Tidal had never
been made to cry simply by the absence of others, aside from
Spectral, of course. Even then, the only time she remembered crying
regarding him was the day 3 years after the Ho-Oh had left when the
realization that he wasn't coming back hit her. Her tears had been
swept away by the current then, just as they were now by the air,
and she wondered if the roles hadn't been somewhat reversed; now
she was the one leaving due to something out of her control.
"Well, who needs a ferry when we have three psychic types?" Meka
had been mostly quiet next to Latias for most the whole
conversation, which was unusual for her. Normally she'd be cutting
into the conversation at every turn, giving her ideas, yet so far
she'd had nothing to say. "I mean, I can levitate over the water,
even in this form, and I've used psychic to carry people long
distance in the past."
Spectral drifted down to the forest just outside of the Ruins of
Alph. The legendary bird was absolutely exhausted from his rapid
flight across the ocean and quite a bit of the Johto woods; it was
exceedingly difficult to fly so far so fast in this human form. His
strength giving out just before he hit the ground, he dropped the
remaining couple of inches, his wings vanishing, and stumbled. With
a deep sigh, the Ho-Oh collapsed against a tree, leaning back and
catching his breath. A thought struck him, and he could have
punched himself; he'd been so anxious to leave so as not to bother
the Moltres and Zapdos any longer, lest they should get upset, that
he'd flown off without asking where in Kanto Tidal was. He'd
have to search the whole region! Throwing his head back against the
bark of the tree, he closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. After
remaining like that for a moment, he took a deep breath and sat up
straight again. Fine. If he had to search the whole region, so be
it.
Mystin hesitated. "Are you sure?" As a former bird, Mystin knew
that carrying things was hard while flying. And expending Psychic
energy would be even harder than flapping wings. Plus, they were in
human forms. While the human forms were smaller than their human
forms, they were definitely still heavy. He didn't want his friends
to tire themselves out like that. Yet another part of his brain
argued that they didn't have enough time to discuss it. Glancing at
the forest's edge and seeing a flash of black, he nodded hurriedly.
"If we're doing this, we'd better be fast. Xaiver's coming."
"I don't care what the plan is." Riko hissed under her breath,
inaudible to anyone that wasn't in the group. "I just want to get
out of here before Zekrom gets back. If he doesn't find us here, it
may confuse him." Her golden gaze flickering to both Meka and
Mystin, she asked. "Now do either of you know where the water is?"
She expected them to know, of course, this being their home region,
but she figured she's ask anyway, her tail-cape flickering
anxiously.
Glancing behind her, Celadon City was now just a mass of color in
the distance. She hoped that she’d at least done something,
anything, to help her friends with her deliberately conspicuous
flight. Determining that this was all she could do, she finally
directed herself to a steeper angle, and, despite her guilt and
regret, a small flicker of pleasure rippled through her mind as she
plunged into the cloud layer, feeling the soft, chilled water
against her face. Taking a deep breath, she shot up through the
billowing sheet of voluminous grey and white, emerging into the
clear blue sky, wisps of clouds trailing behind her.
Mystin nodded. "There's a dock. It's not far from here, but we need
to get there fast since it appears our dragon friend is after us
once more." He looked down at his arms. "I wish I could still
fly..." Mystin shook his head like a dog attempting to shake water
off. "Not important." Taking off, he began weaving his way through
the air and starting to make his way out of the city into the
brush. Although he was already far off, his bright blue hair would
make it easy to track him.
Latias, Zacian, and Mew all followed close behind. Riko, of course
was constantly throwing glanced over her shoulder, sticking to the
back of the group. Unconsciously, she kept her clawed hand near her
prized blade, as was beginning to become usual.
Taking a step forwards and preparing to launch into the air,
Spectral was shocked to feel the ground beneath his right foot cave
in as it plunged into a Diglett hole. He gave a gasp of shock as he
stumbled forwards, falling into the bushes in front of him. His
head his something soft, leathery, and bouncy, and a Pokemon cried
out in response to the impact. With a groan of irritation, the
Ho-Oh tried his best not to breath as the Vileplume released Sleep
Powder into the air, but failed, and soon felt the world around him
fading to blackness.