Another Day at Unity (21) (Patreon)

Hayden was flying! Not the way she wanted, not even with the form she wanted! Even so, the whipping air moving through her hair, the rushing streets and water beneath, evoked an instant joy deeper than any temporary transformation.

Besides, the squirrel she'd chosen wasn't afraid of heights, so there wasn't even any conflict there.

Granted, of all the ways she imagined she might be flying today, riding on the back of someone else's daemon hadn't been on the list.

Drake leaned sideways to look at her, watching her. After twenty seconds or so, he stopped holding her with both arms, letting her squeeze with her legs alone.

The pokémon beneath them was bigger than them both, big enough to lift two children without much difficulty. Though her body was firm, she felt soft feathers just beneath the cloth. If anything, the real fear was touching her by mistake.

They soared above the tallest buildings, the church and museum on the other end of town. They kept going, rapidly approaching the level of the scattered zeppelins making their deliberate march across the sky.

"You know what happens if I drop you from up here?" Drake asked, conversationally. "Won't matter if you land in the water or the pier."

She nodded. "If you brought me up to kill me, could we fly around a little first? Your daemon is so fast! I only went this fast once, and I was too mad to have any fun."

Something appeared beneath them—red and white, with sharp wings extended past them on either side. She had a long neck, and narrow arms tucked in near where Hayden's legs hung.

"Won't work, Drake," the daemon said, wistful. "She knows we won't."

Hayden nodded along with the daemon. “Mine is Ahuiliztli, but I just call her Liz most of the time. Traditional... Johto name, but hard to say."

"Don't tell anyone down there you know it's me,” Aurora said. “They all know—it's pretty obvious to any kids who think about it for that long. But they all pretend."

"Lips are sealed," she said, drawing a thin line over her face. "How much higher up can you go? Probably not much further... the air gets soooo thin. Hard to breathe, hard to think, and then you're tumbling down again. Hopefully wake up before you hit the ground."

Drake gripped her shoulders again, firmly. "How do you even know that, squirrel? Just marching up to us like I won't throw you into the harbor to swim a few miles back to shore. I've done it before, done worse when people try to hurt the Misties. Think I won't do the same to you?"

She shrugged, relaxing against his chest. "Do you think I'm here to hurt them? Last time someone tried that around me, they—" She stiffened. "Made them dig the grave, then threw them into the ocean to rot. Didn't do the actual killing myself I mean, but... Liz and I did think about it."

Their flight slowed, then stopped beside a thick cloud. That would cover their presence from below.

"Aurora thinks you're telling the truth, or at least you think you are. Maybe you're just crazy. A little too much sun, or your daemon has a bad case of the pokérus. You aren't a flying squirrel. Do you want me to drop you?"

"No. I said so, I think Aurora is really fast. Liz wants to watch her fly some more."

"But not like this," the squirrel squeaked, wistful. "Pachirisu can't see in ways that matter."

"I could probably catch you," he went on. "Maybe. If you tell me who you really are?"

"Already did." Hayden shifted on his chest, getting enough separation from him that she could transform without her tail smacking him. Hiding Unity was one thing while transformed, but her true self was immutable. Not even Lord Moonstone could do that.

"I'm Hayden from Sunyshore. My family moved there from Johto before I was born. They're eevees, but I wasn't very good at settling. I guess you know a little about that—being things others don't expect. Since you're a legendary and everything. And looking at your daemon, Unity will be as confusing for you as it was for me."

She couldn't read his emotions, but even so, Hayden felt Drake's motions become more agitated. He shifted, securing his legs on the daemon's back so he could throw her off without slipping. "One more stupid thing, and you go onto the cloud. This is our town, Hayden. Don't care if you're the bravest squirrel Arceus ever hatched. It's our turf, and you're gonna start making sense. Tell me who you are, and why you came."

Hayden rolled sharply to the side, right off the pokémon's back. She trilled sharply, trying to stop her, but she was too slow. Even the daemon hadn't been expecting that level of audacity.

Instead of passing through the cloud, Hayden landed atop it. The effect was less convincing up close than it might've been from far away, since her motion dissolved its nebulous edges into mist. When she kicked, her leg passed through without touching it, other than coming away damp.

Aurora and Drake spun around, but by the time they were looking back in her direction, Hayden was already reclining, arms stretched behind her. She couldn't hide the ears in her pink hair, but at least the cloud could cover her tail. Kinda.

"Saved you the trouble, see? If you threw me out, you'd feel guilty about it for months. Don't say you wouldn't, I saw your face!"

She saw them now, watching her with open-mouthed confusion. Drake recovered first, leaning forward closer to the pokémon's neck. "I can... feel what you're doing. Like telekinesis, but... shaped exactly to your body. How do you do that?"

She grinned at him, settling onto her knees on the cloud. He wasn't running away yet, so that was a good thing. Yet if she failed now that they had met, it might do catastrophic damage—now that he knew what she was, and might be looking for her.

We don't have months. This has to work the first time.

"We could teach you. Not that Liz and I are the best teachers. But Aurora looks like she's a fast learner. That human form you used was... incredible. I've never even seen a ditto do that."

The pokémon cooed with the praise, her feathers relaxing and arms coming loose from beside her body. That same relaxation never spread to Drake. "Arceus, wait—you're from Mew House, aren't you? Lord Moonstone is coming for us."

"No!" She raised both hands in front of her, a little closer to him. "Believe me, he could've found you by now if he wanted. He knows where you are. But not every battle calls for a draco meteor, you know? Sometimes a tackle is fine."

She floated off the cloud, fast enough that he couldn't react in time. She took his arm, instead of the other way around. "I'm more like you than I am like him, see?"

With their contact, Hayden sent a memory. She never dared use that power with normal pokémon anymore, not since she fried her sister's brain and made the ditto think she was really Hayden. But with another legendary, it was still easier than explaining it all.

Hayden showed him a few minutes—running for Ellie's life on the piers of Sunyshore, the desperation and determination they felt to save her, then Corrin trying to stop them. She shared the brief battle, and how it ended, before the two of them ran from the pier with their prize.

"Settled by accident," she said, releasing his arm again. "Didn't grow up wearing fancy dresses and going to balls. There aren't a lot of other kids in the world who understand what it's like, Drake. But I'm one. Liz and I have fought the Great Families so you could live, and you didn't even know my name."

Aurora bobbed gently up and down in the air. She had no problem flying there, despite the lack of formal training. She was more of a natural at this than Liz—she had learned even without brutal teachers punishing Hayden for walking, or threatening to drop them to their death if they couldn't fly.

Granted, Drake had done that last one, albeit for his own reasons. "You're not a ditto," he said. "Thought that's what it was, but... I can't look into your head anymore. Maybe Latias can, but—"

"Please don't," Liz squeaked. She floated away from Hayden's shoulder, circling around the larger daemon. Her attention was focused mostly on learning the form, now that she finally had her powers back. "It's a lot of effort to fight over things and we don't need to hide. We can just show you."

"Not wearing dresses in that memory," Drake said. "I felt you, you ain't a boy. Whose memory was that?"

"Ours," Hayden said. Even after all this time, explaining still made her cheeks brighten, and her tail curl around her leg. It would be a long time before she made peace with that particular shame. "I could show you when it happened, but it hurt... a lot. Everyone was kinda surprised we lived. Maybe you can just trust me about that part? People can change, kinda like how your eyes weren't always that color. Did you ever think about why they match Aurora?"

That had apparently struck a nerve. He dropped lower to the pokémon's back. "I think I can't stay up here much longer. I promised the Misties I would drop you. What do we do?"

"Drop me, obviously. If we went down into the bay from all the way up here, could I join? I meant what I said about a place to sleep. Liz and I don't need much, we won't be a bother. And if you keep us around, maybe we could teach you some stuff?"

"We don't know a lot about being a dragon," Liz said, landing back on her shoulder. The kitten stretched out, so Drake would be able to see her clearly. There was nothing stealthy about this. "But we know a lot about being psychic. And we know lots of grass, and electric, and water, and—"

Drake grabbed her wrist, yanking her onto Aurora's back. It wasn't very hard when she was floating, and no gravity touched her. She stopped fighting it enough to sit comfortably.

"One condition. If we let you come back, you do what I say. You don't try to take over the gang, or hurt any of my friends. If I ever tell you to leave, you leave."

She looked back at him, and some of her old confidence returned to her face. "Agreed."

"No playing pretend when you're with us. Everyone gets to see the real you. Hiding is for everyone else."

Her smile faltered. Revealing her true self would mean very little at first, no one would believe the word of the kids that citizens openly called trash. But the longer she stayed, the more likely she was to have word of her whispered to a sympathetic ear. Or worse, get seen by someone on the street.

"I can... do that, if you want." She twisted to the side, wrapping her long tail around his back. "But I can't hide this while I'm me. I really shouldn't be this any time we're out in the open. Can I hide whenever strangers might see? It'll be bad if I don't."

He rolled his eyes, prying her tail away from him. "You're not afraid. Walking into the Misties like that. Could've got shivved."

She twisted around on the daemon's back, so she was looking directly into his eyes. She touched his shoulder, and held on. "It's not me I'm afraid for."