Learning to Fly
Chapter 3: Freefall
A Clover Guild Story
By Ribombee-anon
Previous part: https://rentry.org/RibombeeFly2
Taillow and I stayed in the sky for a while. Sometimes she sang, sometimes she talked about things she saw below us, and rarely she fell silent and let me bask in the beauty of flight. But all good things had to come to an end, and that realization came crashing down on me as I realized I never told Sneasel what I was doing.
“Taillow,” I said. “We have to go back down.”
The bird glanced back over her shoulder. “Huh? Already? Why?”
“Sneasel doesn’t know where I am. She’s probably worried.”
“Oh! Right! Silly me—totally forgot to tell Sneasel I was giving you a ride! That’s fine. I’ll take you back down now.“
Taillow angled herself and began making big spirals downward. She stopped and leveled out after only one loop.
“Actually...” she said. “I think we should try one more thing first.”
“What?” I asked nervously.
“See, here’s the thing. Now you’ve got a better idea of what flying feels like, right? But sitting on someone’s back isn’t really flying, is it? How about we take it up a notch? You can get off my back, and you can freefall for a bit. And—”
The simple word freefall made my head spin like never before. “No!” I screamed, wrapping my arms around her neck and holding on tight. “No, please! Th-that’s way too far!”
Taillow laughed. “Don’t be scared! C’mon, I keep telling you: you can float down safely, and I can catch you a long time before you hit the ground, so you’ve got nothing to worry about. This’ll be a great chance for you to experiment with gliding around—even if you can’t fly yet, it’s still important to know how to sense the wind and catch the air.”
Her words helped slow down my racing heart. And as I thought about it, I realized she had a point. I was in a special position right now, perfect for testing how I could glide with my wings. And gliding would offer a more accurate experience of flight than riding on Taillow’s back did. Plus, it could be a while until I got a chance to come up to this height again, depending on my and Taillow’s schedules.
Maybe it was due to her encouragement, or perhaps the high altitude was just making me giddy, but my usual caution and timidity faded away, and I decided to take the risk. So I forced these words out of my tight throat: “I’ll do it.”
“Really?” the bird cried. “Awesome! Glad you wanna give it a try! This’ll be fun for you! And I promise I won’t let you hit the ground! Here we go!”
She flapped her wings and soared upwards into a big loop. I clung to her neck as long as I could, but as we began to flip upside-down, I quickly lost my grip. I screamed as I plummeted from her back.
I was in freefall.
As if by instinct, I spread out my arms, legs, and wings, and somehow flipped my whole body to face downward. I’d grown familiar with the sight of the distant ground by this point. But now that I was on my own, skydiving without a parachute, the view seemed to change. The world was simultaneously so far away that I could never reach it, and also so close that I could hit it at any moment.
My stomach churned. My vision faded. Terror was trying to knock me out. But I held on tight to the feeling of my wings rippling in the wind, Taillow’s encouraging words, and the thought that Sneasel was waiting for me somewhere down below, even though I couldn’t see her. I’d make it back to my partner safely. I had to.
Something big suddenly darted under me. I gasped and looked over, trying to see what it was. It was only Taillow. She was orbiting me now, keeping pace with me and flapping her wings rapidly.
“You’re doing great!” she shouted over the wind. “How’s it feel?”
“Scary!” I shouted back. “B-but it... it’s kind of... fun?”
“I was hoping you’d say that! You’re not gonna gain any height, but this is the closest you’re gonna get to flying till you learn to use your wings! Enjoy it! You’ve got plenty of time to experiment, cuz you’re moving pretty slow. We’ve got a few minutes till we reach the ground.”
It was impossible to gauge my exact speed, since the only point of reference was the ground, and that was too far away to be useful. But I did indeed seem to be going slowly. I felt air rushing up at me and rustling my setae, and my scarf was forced straight up behind my back, but the wind didn’t seem as violent as I expected. My wings and waist cape caught the air, helping to slow me down—and combined with my low weight, my freefall was less like a rapid plummet and more like a soft float. Part of me believed I could actually survive hitting the ground at this speed. But another part of me instantly buried that thought for being far too gruesome.
I ignored the thought of impact and decided to try experimenting, as Taillow suggested. Although I couldn’t control my wings very well, I tried moving my limbs, head, and body, seeing if I could adjust the way I fell. I was able to slightly change my angle, so I could yaw, pitch, and roll to a small extent. And by tucking in or spreading out my limbs, I fell slightly faster or slower. Curious, I reached back and tried to grab the top edges of my wings. It was an awkward position for my arms, but I was able to take hold of my wings and manually tilt them around. This resulted in much bigger changes to my direction and speed, letting me swoop around and even temporarily gain height after picking up speed with a brief dive. With my wings now connected to my arms, and the cloth of my waist cape behind my legs, it was like I was wearing a wingsuit.
“Look at you!” Taillow said as she hovered close by. “You’re getting the hang of it!”
“Thanks!” I replied.
I managed to swerve over to her and dart close by her head. She laughed and chased after me, doing a tight barrel roll around me before taking the lead. A big grin came over my face as I gripped my wings tighter and tilted them around to glide after the bird. We chased each other through the sky, laughing the whole time.
I forgot all about the world below and the ground steadily rushing up to meet me. I didn’t care about any of that. I was finally getting a glimpse of flight, and I was having more fun than I’d ever had before.
After a minute or two of falling, Taillow moved away from me and began performing stunts in the air. I watched from a distance and tried to copy her. I was nowhere near as agile as the bird, but I figured out how vaguely mimic a few of her tricks.
That was when the wind decided to pick up.
A sudden gust slammed into me, tearing my wings from my hands and sending me into an uncontrollable tumble. I flailed my limbs and shouted as I struggled to level out. I eventually did, but my head was spinning and I felt queasy. I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head, then looked around.
I was alone.
“Taillow?” I called out. “T-Taillow? W-where are you?”
The bird was nowhere to be seen. The wind had taken me far away from her. And as I looked down, I realized I was no longer over Capim Town. I was above the bay. And now that I was a Ribombee, I couldn’t swim.
The water seemed to come up a lot faster than the ground had. My heart started to pound, growing even louder than the wind rushing against me. My breathing quickened, and my vision began to grow dim again. I grabbed my wings and tried to steer myself back to the land, but a stiff breeze stopped me as if it were a wall. I screamed and flailed my limbs, trying to swim through the air in desperation. I called out for Taillow. I even called for Sneasel. But nobody could save me.
Or so I thought, until my frantically-shifting gaze noticed something floating in the bay below. It was white and light blue, and blended in with the water. But even from this height, I could recognize the sight of Gus the Oshawott, my friend, guildmate, and fellow human-turned-Pokemon. He loved swimming and relaxing in the bay ever since becoming a Water-type, so it was no surprise to see him here—but it certainly felt like a surprise now, since I had been certain I was doomed. Now that I saw him, my hope came back to life. If I could land on him instead of in the water, I could survive.
I took hold of my wings once more and maneuvered towards Gus. I was getting distressingly close to the surface of the bay. I could practically hear the water rippling. I screamed Gus’ name as I came down. His ears twitched, and he opened his eyes and looked around.
“Booker?” I heard his faint voice float up from below. “Huh? Was that...”
“Up here!” I cried. “Help! Catch me!”
Gus looked up. After staring at the sky briefly, he finally spotted the tiny Ribombee falling nearby. “What!?” he shouted. “How—how did—never mind, just hang on!”
He kicked his legs and shot through the water, getting closer to me. I kept tilting my wings and tried to slow down, giving him ample time to get into position. As if we had planned it, he got under me with a few seconds to spare. I held my arms and legs down in front of me, and landed on my hands and feet. My limbs buckled, and though this cushioned the impact a bit, my momentum still slammed me right into Gus’s scalchop. There was a loud clunk as my exoskeleton-clad body crashed into it.
“B-Booker!” Gus shouted. “Are you okay?”
I groaned and lay there limply on his shell.
“Sorry...” the Oshawott mumbled. “I should’ve moved that thing out of the way, huh? But at least you’re alive! Why were you falling from the sky? How’d you even get up there?”
I slowly pushed myself up off Gus’s scalchop and sat upright. “Long... story...” I murmured. My voice was shaking, and I couldn’t say anything more. I hunched over and hid my face in my hands to hide the tears welling up in my eyes. I couldn’t believe I was alive.
Gus floated there for a while in silence, patiently waiting for me to recover. I was afraid I would break down and sob in front of my guildmate, but it seemed like the good memories of gliding and swooping around in the air were overriding the near-death experience I just had. I composed myself before long, then told Gus the basics of what just happened. As I reached the end of my story, I heard a familiar trill from above. Taillow was diving down like a meteor, and barely swerved up before crashing into the bay. She kicked up a spray of mist as she flew right over the water's surface and shot towards me and Gus.
“Booker!” she shouted as she zoomed past us. “Booker! You’re alive! I’m so, so, so sorry!”
She looped back around and hovered nearby, sending out a stream of rapid-fire apologies. I sighed and held up a hand to stop her. “It’s... it's okay,” I said. “It’s over. I lived. It’s fine.”
“This is the Taillow that you flew with?” Gus asked.
“I am,” Taillow said. “Thanks for saving him! You’re the best!”
Gus smiled and looked away sheepishly as he backstroked to shore. Taillow followed, apologizing all the way. At the coast, Gus rode the gentle waves and beached himself on his back. I slid down the side of his body and landed on the sand, then scurried away from the water to avoid any stray waves. Gus got up and joined me, while Taillow swooped down and landed some distance ahead.
“Seriously, Booker,” she said, bowing her head low, “I can’t say sorry enough. I promised to catch you before you hit the ground, and I really meant it! But I just got distracted. I was focused on flying around and having fun, but then I looked and saw you were gone! It was so scary! I’m sorry... I’m such an idiot. I always get distracted too easily... I wish I wasn’t so scatterbrained...”
“But... it ended okay,” I said. “Don’t beat yourself up over it. Aside from the ending, it was an amazing experience for me, so I’m happy it happened. And besides, I can tell you learned not to get distracted so easily from now on, right?”
Taillow perked up again. “Y-yeah! Exactly! It was a learning experience—for both of us! You did learn more about gliding and feeling the wind, didn’t you?”
“I did. And I think that’ll be useful if I eventually figure out how to fly.”
“WHEN you figure out how to fly,” Taillow corrected me, giving me a wink.
I smiled at her. “Yeah... well, I hope you’re right. Hopefully it’s just a matter of time, because the way it felt to soar around up there in the air...” I trailed off and gazed up at the sky. The sensation of wind in my setae and under my wings was still fresh in my mind. “I can’t wait to do it again, with my own wingpower.”
“Good luck,” said Gus. “Y’know, I can’t fly, obviously, but... I think swimming underwater feels a bit like flying. You’re all weightless and free... it’s really nice. So I can get why you want to fly so much. I hope you can do it soon, Booker.”
“Thanks, Gus,” I said. I waved goodbye as he returned to the water and dove in, shooting through the surf and out to the bay. Then I turned to Taillow and sighed.
“Sneasel is going to be so mad,” I said. “But when we talk to her, I’ll try to back you up. I know it was a mistake, and you didn’t mean to get distracted.”
Taillow thanked me and said, “Well... if you’re still okay with riding me, hop on. I’ll take you back to Sneasel.”
I got on Taillow’s back again, while resolving not to let go this time. We flew back to the spot where we left Sneasel. Taillow soared over the giant tree stumps, looking for my partner. I leaned over her shoulder to get a look at things below. I felt a rush as I saw the world from the air once again. However, we were much lower, so the same feeling of beauty and freedom was much less pronounced.
“See her?” I shouted over the wind blowing past us.
“No!” Taillow replied. “Where’d she go?”
“Maybe she noticed we were gone, and she went looking for us? Hey, check the guildhall!”
Taillow brought me over there. Just as I suspected, I saw Sneasel out front. She was talking to a Linoone mail carrier. I recognized him as the friendly yet somewhat eccentric “Solid Linoone”. She was probably asking if he saw me or Taillow while delivering mail around town. He was shaking his head, but then he saw us approaching from behind Sneasel, and pointed us out. My partner spun around and gasped as she saw us.
“There you are!” she shouted. “You’re okay! Sheesh, you had me worried. Where did you two go?”
Taillow landed on a nearby fence, almost eye level with Sneasel, and I dismounted and stood beside her. Together, we summarized what happened. Linoone and Sneasel both listened closely. Sneasel seemed to approve of my decision to fly on Taillow’s back so I could get a feel for flying. She even told us that she was a bit jealous of me. But I could feel a storm coming, and sure enough, she started to get concerned when we told her about my freefall. And once we reached the part where Taillow got distracted and failed to save me, everything changed.
I started to regret having the ability to sense Aura, because I felt an ugly, almost painful emotional energy radiating out of Sneasel. I’d never felt this before. It grew more intense as I saw her lower her stance. I had no chance to give a warning. In an instant, she lunged at Taillow, grabbed her by the neck, yanked her off the fence, and chokeslammed her. The bird let out strangled squawks and flailed uselessly on the ground, slapping her wings against Sneasel’s arms.
“You dirt-pecking retard!” Sneasel hissed as she kneeled over the hapless bird. “You almost killed my partner! Give me one reason why I shouldn’t shank your ugly face right now!”
Sneasel was angrier than I’d ever seen her before. Her rage froze me solid. I wanted to jump down and stop her before she did something horrible, but I was too shocked to move.
Linoone saw me standing there, immobilized, and decided to take action himself. He hopped forward, shouting, “Hey! Break it up! No need to fight!”
Sneasel looked at him and snarled. Linoone stopped in his tracks and took a step back.
“O-okay,” he said. “Settle down, please, Sneasel. Let’s not get crazy here in front of your guildhall. I’m sure you and Taillow can just talk it out, right?”
“Wrong,” Sneasel replied as she squeezed Taillow’s neck tighter. “Nobody hurts my partner and gets away with it.”
Taillow’s struggles redoubled, and her eyes met mine. As she stared at me pleadingly, I finally felt the motivation to get moving. I broke free of my fear and jumped off the fence.
“Sneasel, wait!” I shouted as I softly landed next to Taillow's head. “Please don’t hurt her!”
Sneasel’s narrowed gaze darted over to me. “What are you talking about?” she growled. “Booker, you almost died because she’s a total idiot!”
“You’re right,” I began. “She—”
Taillow, being Taillow, somehow managed to speak despite being strangled: “W-wait, are you saying you think I’m a total idiot?”
I stammered, “N-no! I d-didn’t mean it like that. What I meant was... it’s true that you made a mistake, Taillow, and it almost killed me.” Saying those words, and thinking back to how I came so close to death, made my voice quake. But I gulped and made myself continue. “But... aside from that, I had fun and learned a lot. I don’t regret flying with her, Sneasel, even if it got pretty scary for a minute there. Besides, she promised not to let this sort of thing happen again. She said she’ll be more careful from now on. We need to give her a chance.”
Sneasel looked back and forth between me and Taillow, clearly trying to decide if she should give in to her rage or listen to the pleas of her partner. She seemed to be leaning towards my side, fortunately, since I noticed she was loosening her grip, and Taillow was able to breathe more easily.
Eventually, Linoone cleared his throat. “This isn’t really my business,” he said, “but the way I see it... if Booker’s the one who got hurt, and he forgives Taillow, and Taillow already apologized and promised to do better... then I think you should cut her some slack. No reason to punish her if she already learned her lesson. An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind, right?”
“Exactly,” I said. “So, please... just let her go, Sneasel. Things turned out okay, and I gained some good experience. You don’t have to hurt her.”
Sneasel glared at Taillow. The bird looked up at her with an expression suggesting she accepted her fate, whatever Sneasel decided to do. After a long and tense staring contest, my partner sighed and looked away.
“Fine,” she said. “I’ll let you go. But only because Booker wants me to. That said...”
She gave Taillow’s neck one last squeeze, making her squawk again. She leaned in close to the bird’s face and hissed, “If you ever hurt him again, I’ll make you wish you were never born.”
Sneasel finally released Taillow. The bird fluttered her wings and flailed around on her back, before rolling over and taking to the skies.
“Sorry!” she shouted, giving me one last apology before disappearing among the massive tree stumps of Capim Town.
The three of us watched her go. Linoone sat back on his haunches and gave an awkward cough.
“Oookay, glad that’s over,” he said. “Glad you didn’t hurt her too badly, Sneasel. Probably wouldn’t be a good PR move to beat up a citizen on your guildhall’s doorstep, eh?”
“Yeah, but it would’ve been even worse for the guild if we lost a member,” Sneasel said, looking over at me. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
I nodded. “Me too. And thanks for letting Taillow go.” My voice wavered and I broke eye contact with her as I added, “Um, but... y-you kinda scared me, though. I’ve never seen you get mad like that before.”
“That’s cuz nobody ever brought you that close to death before,” she said, and I could have sworn I saw her shudder slightly. “Well, if it’s all over now, and you swear that you’re okay, then I guess we can move on and forget about it. And with how I just put the fear of the gods in Taillow, I bet she’ll be less of a birdbrain from now on. Hopefully.”
“Hopefully,” said Linoone with a smirk. “But some Pokemon never change. I’ve met Taillow before, and knowing her, I bet she’ll still get into plenty of shenanigans in the future. Anyway, I’ve still got plenty of mail to deliver, so I’ve gotta go. Glad you made it back to the ground safely, Booker. And good luck with your flying. If I can help you at all, lemme know. See ya!”
With a tip of his cap, Linoone darted off at a stunning speed, while Sneasel put me back on her head and went towards the guildhall.
“So, other than the rough ending...” she asked me, “you said you actually learned some stuff from that feather-head?”
“Yeah,” I said. “I can give you more details later. But she did teach me useful stuff. And in a word, being up there in the sky was... unreal.”
I lay down on her head and stared up at the sky. I saw a couple bird Pokemon flying around, free as the wind. Someday, I would join them. I’d taken one huge step closer with my experiences today. Taillow had given me advice about flying and helped me learn a bit about my new musculature, and after flying on her back and gliding through the air on my own, I had a much better concept of how it felt to fly. I still hadn’t experienced true flight, but it was only a matter of time until I cracked the code and took to the air.
Originally published 4-25-23
Next part: https://rentry.org/RibombeeFly4
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