Unnatural

Returning Home and Making Deals (Alt)

(Same time period from Ch. 8) Hours later

Following White

Charizard landed somewhere in the mainland with Emi right beside him. She looked exhausted from the flight. He had offered to carry her earlier, but she had only shaken her head and flew faster. The human on his back, on the other hand, had immediately released his neck and collapsed onto the ground.

The fire type clone and Emi flinched when they heard the muffled thump of the girl hitting the grassy ground. Both stared at her, momentarily caught off guard, before reacting.

Emi rushed to her side and pulled her up into a sitting position. "White?! Are you okay?"

Charizard crossed his arms and huffed. "Why is she fainting? All she had to do was hold on for the entire trip."

"I'm okay, Emi. Sorry for the spook." White lowered herself back onto the ground and stared blankly up at the sky. "Just...give me a second to readjust." Her gaze gradually lulled over to Charizard, who was still staring at her quizziedly. "Thank you...for flying us over to the mainland...And sorry for choking you throughout most of it."

Charizard only scoffed humorously at her. "I still find it funny that you have a fear of heights. Did you faint when I brought you and Jen over to New Island a couple months back? I thought you had just fallen asleep."

"Charizard, be nice!" Emi snapped. She looked down at White and poked her in the arm. "R U OK?"

White nodded and lifted her hands to sign back as she spoke. "Glad to be touching the ground again. That's all. How are you?"

"Okay too."

White smiled shakily and went back to staring at the sky. "So...what's the plan now? We're out of Flare's reach and parked where in the mainland?"

Emi shrugged.

The girl grabbed her Pokeballs and summoned her Pokémon. She would need their help communicating with Emi and Charizard faster. Plus, they were probably eager to be let out now that they had landed.

Two silhouettes of light materialized from the Pokeballs as her friends took form before her. Ninetails yawned and stretched once her form stabilized, while Gengar looked around to see where in the mainland they were. It didn't look like he had slept, unlike Ninetails who had taken full advantage of her time in her Pokeball. She had a little more trust in the clones than Gengar.

"So, we made it. Now what?" The ghost type asked both aloud and through sign. "What's the plan?"

White slowly sat up and looked from Charizard to Emi and back. "I guess we'll just roam and do what we can to stay out of your leader's way. I want to see where Pallet stood...see what it's like now. If that is alright."

Emi nodded and lifted her hands to sign. "We can do that." She looked at Charizard and began to speak with Gengar translating. "We can meet you on the way to Pallet. Or would you prefer we stay here until you come back? Gengar. Genn gengr. Geng rarg."

White waited as Charizard responded to Gengar and Emi. She looked at Gengar's and Emi's hands, but neither one of them moved. "..."

Ninetails moved to her side and sat down in the grass. White leaned against the fire type and scratched Ninetails behind the ears. "Neee."

"You wouldn't happen to be able to help translate what they're saying for me, would you, Nine?" White snickered. Ninetails knew how to understand sign, but due to her lack of hands that could allow her to sign she wouldn't be able to translate well for White.

"Niin."

The girl giggled and ran her hand down to her friend's back. "Yeah, didn't think so." She looked around the area and sighed quietly. She didn't recognize anything. "I wasn't really expecting to see anything familiar or have immediate feelings of nostalgia, but this doesn't feel like home. Hell, this hasn't been my home for the past nine years."