Timothy's POV
The next day… and I'm still alive. Disappointing.
"Alright everyone! It's time to wake up!" Morgan shouted. "We have a plane to catch, and a great adventure ahead of us!"
Great. Another one of her "adventures." You know, the kind where I get emotionally traumatized, physically exhausted, and somehow end up babysitting a toddler who talks to Pokémon like it's a perfectly normal day?
Eevee tilted her head. "Vee?"
Garchomp rumbled low. "Garchomp…"
I stared at the ceiling, silently begging Arceus to give me a sign to stay in bed forever.
"Do I have to go…?" I mumbled into my pillow.
Morgan, of course, smiled like I just handed her a PokéPuff.
"Of course you have to go! You're a part of this crew!"
Crew? What is this, a pirate ship? I slowly turned my head toward her, my expression dead inside. "Since when?"
She snorted. "Since always, dummy."
Great. Now I'm a dummy on top of being the emotionally unstable twin. Can't wait.
Artemis was already bouncing around, her oversized sweater sleeves flopping around like Magikarp fins. "Are we flying in a Sky Taxi or a Sky Pidgeot? OH! What if it's a GIANT BUTTERFREE?"
Morgan rolled her eyes and started handing out snacks like we were going on a road trip instead of, y'know, an international mission to find a possibly-nonexistent mom.
"I got trail mix, juice boxes, and Pokémon-shaped gummies!" she said proudly.
Eevee strutted by like she owned the place. "Eevee vee, vee vee,"
I didn't even question how she packed anything. I was too tired. Too emotionally resigned.
Buneary skittered up with a twig in her mouth and blinked at me. "Bun?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just existentially drained," I mumbled.
"Bun," she said again, dropping the twig in my lap like it was a peace offering. Or a gift. Or a threat. Honestly? Could be any of those.
Garchomp stomped up behind me and gave me a solid pat on the back, which almost made me faceplant into the dirt. "GARCHOMP."
"...Thanks, I guess."
Morgan clapped her hands. "Okay! Let's go catch that plane!"
Shinx's POV
The sun was too bright. The humans were too loud. And Buneary had already tried to put a rock in her mouth twice. The day was off to a great start.
Timothy stood up like gravity personally offended him, while Morgan was already marching ahead like she was the main character.
"Come on, Timmy! We don't wanna be late!" she called over her shoulder.
I trotted beside Staraptor, my ears flicking as I watched the human chaos unfold. Artemis was skipping. Garchomp was looming. Eevee was posing like she was in a drama about to deliver her final monologue.
I tilted my head up to the bird. "You've seen things, Staraptor. What's a plane?"
Staraptor narrowed his eyes, feathers fluffing like he was preparing to speak with the weight of a thousand lifetimes. "It's… a metal bird. But not a real bird. A human-made one. It flies, but not like us."
My jaw dropped. "A metal bird?! Are you kidding me?! Like, an armored Skarmory???"
"It doesn't even flap," he added dramatically, as if this was the most horrifying part.
Artemis quickly caught up to us. "You said it doesn't flap?!"
"It just… goes."
"Goes where?!"
"Wherever the humans tell it to."
"Terrifying." I said, tail puffing up in horror. "You mean to tell me we're willingly gettinginside this giant, soulless sky creature?!"
"Yup." Staraptor stretched his wings like it was nothing.
Charizard made a face. You know the one. That 'I cannot believe you're all this dumb' face. And then just casually flapped his wings and hovered off the ground to prove a point.
"Show off," I muttered.
Garchomp leaned, voice low. "What if we fall out of it?"
"Then we die screaming," Mother Eevee said.
Garchomp nodded solemnly. "Good to know."
Timothy's POV
Airports are weird. Everything smells like industrial cleaner, burnt coffee, and stress. There's crying kids, angry businessmen, and someone somewhere dragging a suitcase that sounds like it's full of bricks. And then there's us.
You know. The ones traveling with a whole safari zone's worth of Pokémon out in the open like it's totally normal.
Morgan marched up to the front desk like she owned the place. "Hi! I booked us tickets for flight 073 to Kanto!"
The lady behind the counter looked up, blinked twice, then looked around us. Her eyes slowly widened.
"Ma'am… you can't have that many Pokémon out of their Poké Balls. You'll need to return them to their balls before boarding."
Morgan blinked. "But some of them don't have Poké Balls."
"Then I'm sorry. You can't fly with them like this."
A beat of silence passed.
Garchomp tried to lean intimidatingly on the desk but just bumped into a potted plant instead. Eevee looked offended, like she'd just been accused of a crime. Buneary tried to eat the corner of a pamphlet. Shinx hissed at a baby stroller. Charizard was… being Charizard. Stoic. Judgy. Silently done with our entire species.
Artemis hugged Eevee tighter. "They're not even that many Pokémon," she said.
I looked around at the literal parade of creatures around us.
"Yeah," I muttered, "just a small zoo."
And then… I smiled. Barely. The tiniest crack in the surface of my permanent emotional winter. Maybe I wouldn't have to get on a plane. Maybe this was fate telling us to go home.
But of course Morgan saw it.
Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Was that a smile?"
My face immediately dropped back to deadpan. "No."
She smirked. "It was. You thought you were off the hook. Didn't you?"
I didn't answer.
Morgan, in true Morgan fashion, pulled out a Poké Ball with a grin so smug it physically hurt me.
"DRAGONITE! Let's go!"
The Poké Ball popped open and there it was: a giant, goofy-looking orange dragon.
Dragonite chirped with excitement, flapping his stubby wings with way too much joy for six in the morning.
"You're kidding," I said, watching her swing her leg over the creature's back.
Morgan reached out for me, like we were about to go on some kind of fairytale sky date. "Come on, we're flying the old-fashioned way."
Charizard, behind her, flexed his claws like finally, some action. Morgan pointed to him. "Charizard, you take Artemis, Eevee, Shinx, and Buneary."
Charizard gave a solemn nod and crouched low, letting them climb up.
I stared up at the now mostly-empty airport entrance. A part of me wanted to just sit back down and let them go without me.
But Morgan turned on Dragonite's back and held out a hand.
"You coming, or do I have to get Dragonite to tail-whip you up here?"
I sighed.
Climbed on.
Held tight.
And as the dragons lifted off the ground, and the wind rushed past me, and Artemis laughed like it was the best thing in the world…
I still hated it.
But also?
Maybe it was a little bit cool.
Just don't tell Morgan.