AND I'M BACK! NANANANANANANA~
Sorry for the long-ish wait, people, I've been spending most of my time lying on the floor of my basement with about five fans on me, praying for death to come (I don't have air conditioning). But, without further adieu, I present: Janine.
JANINE
She sniffed the air. The crisp, fresh, morning air. If today were a normal day, she would just be doing plain old training; mostly gymnastics and the like, with a bit of battling mixed in. But today was special. The first day of spring, and a much-welcome warm one at that. Instead of her normal ninja-esque attire, she was wearing plain sweats, a hoodie, and sneakers, with her hair up tightly in a bun. She even had a map made up in her head. Everything was in place, except…
A tiny ding came from the elevator, and she twisted around to see the doors gently slide open. A tall figure stepped out. With a delighted gasp, she rushed over and flung herself on him.
“You came!” she wailed, clinging to him like a little girl. He returned the embrace briefly before she pulled away. “I was starting to think you weren’t going to.”
“I almost didn’t,” he replied. “I had a late night and forgot to set my alarm.”
“Oh well. You’re here, and that’s what counts.” She gave him a quick look over. “You aren’t really dressed properly.” He was wearing his usual clothing: a jacket, a tunic, and some odd style of pants only someone from Johto would ever dream of wearing.
He shrugged. “Like I said, I was running late. I brought some stuff to change into with me.” He held up a bag, presumably filled with clothes, to emphasize his point.
She stared at him in disbelief. “And you’re going to change… where?”
“Right here.”
“Excuse me? In public? In front of me?” she accused.
“There’s no one else here, and you can look away.”
“Oh, Falkner…” she murmured as she turned around. She heard a bag being unzipped, the contents being dumped out, and clothes being ruffled through. In a few minutes, she once again heard the zipper being worked.
“Janine?”
She turned back around to look at him. Now, he was dressed much better. A pair of sweatpants, a long sleeved t-shirt; simple, but perfect for their purpose.
“How do I look?” he said, brushing his cool blue hair out of his eyes.
“You look fine, I guess,” she conceded.
Falkner nodded and walked over next to her, beside the railing. “So, what about Koga? Is he coming?”
“No. Daddy has something going on at the League. I guess this is the busy time for League challenges, or something like that.”
“That’s a shame. I was looking forward to showing your old man some of my moves.”
“Ha!” Janine laughed. “As if! You probably learned all of your techniques from your dad. And your dad has nothing on daddy.”
“Maybe so, but not when it comes to Pokémon battles. I bet my dad could—”
“Oh, whatever!” she cut him off. “Let’s just get on with this. I’m really excited.”
Falkner leaned over the rail slightly. He took in the sight of the busy street below. Mornings always came early in Goldenrod, so the streets were always filled to the brim with cars and pedestrians, right from the crack of dawn. It was quite a drop…
“Umm, Janine? I’m not so sure of this anymore,” he muttered.
“Oh wah. You said you do this all the time.”
“Yeah, in Violet,” he countered. “The tallest thing there is Sprout Tower, and it’s a dwarf compared to most of these buildings.”
“Whatever. This is the closest thing you’ll ever get to flying, so you should be happy,” she said. Falkner took one last look down, swallowed, and turned to face her.
“Yeah… okay, I guess I can try it. Where are we headed?”
Janine stretched her finger out into the distance. “There,” she said, and Falkner traced the path from her finger. Out in the distance, stretching higher than any other building, was the sheer black, glimmering spire of the Radio Tower, capped with an observatory dome.
“That’s… pretty far.”
“That’s the idea. Just try to follow me, and you’ll be fine.” She backed up, crouched down in a sprinter’s stance, and tore off, diving over the rail.
“Wait! What are you…” his voice trailed off as she fell and the air whipped into her ears, drowning out even her own thoughts with its incessant roaring. Her first target approached, and she stretched out her hand, grabbing hold of a vacant flagpole. The force of her fall sent her spinning around the pole. If she had been any less conditioned, she would have been thrown off, but as it was, she held on tightly, her palms slipping around the slick metal. She saw a falling shadow—Falkner—on one of her revolutions, so she let go.
She was flying through the air, the force of the momentum and angle of departure sending all the way across the street. The buildings on that side weren’t quite as tall as the Department Store she just left, so she was easily able to clear the first. She landed on the roof of the next one over—the office of some banking company, if she remembered correctly—and rolled, deflecting the impact. She was back on her feet from the roll, and she sprinted across the roof, leaping right before the edge. As her feet left, she heard a light thud telling her that Falkner was not far behind.
Good, she thought. Maybe he is cut out for this after all.
She was in the air again, this time headed for a building roughly the same size as the one she just left. The gap was rather small, more of an alley than a street, so she easily bridged it and continued on. She looped around the edge of the roof in order to keep her momentum, and left the roof to the right of where she had landed.
This continued for several minutes. She made many large leaps, several small leaps, and even jumped through an open window to get through one building. Each leap and haul brought her one step closer to her goal.
She did this a couple days every year, and each time had the time of her life, but she always made sure to do it on the vernal equinox: the start of spring.
To her, spring was many things. Not only was it her favorite season—not too hot, not too cold—it also represented several things to her. It was a symbol of life; she was born in the spring. It was a time of change; she had first become fond of Poison-types during the spring, when Grimer were most active. But most importantly, it was a mark of growing up; she got the job of Fuchsia City Gym Leader two years ago in the spring, when Koga was invited to join the Elite Four.
Now she was close to the Radio Tower. The glimmering black building was just a few blocks away. She was on the edge of a building, the busy street below her. The only buildings close enough for her to leap to were back the way she came. That left only one option. She gazed down, examining the side of the building. There were a few windowsills that stuck out pretty far. Behind her, she heard sharp thuds that told her Falkner was close to catching up. She was out of options, and out of time.
She swung herself over the ledge and let herself drop. The first fall was brief; she caught herself on the sill with the tips of her toes and nearly flipped over backwards in the process. Her heart pounded in the erratic beat of a masochist’s tango, threatening to burst from her chest in a crimson fountain. She steadied herself; another mistake like that could be deadly. Another glance below told her that the next drop was much further down; however, it would take her nearly to the street. With a deep breath, she crouched down, curled her fingertips against the windowsill, let her feet fall below, and…
She let go. The wind whipped past her ears and blasted in her face. Her eyes stung, as if she had taken a Poison Sting right to the face. It only lasted a few more seconds before she hit the next sill, though this one was more of a balcony than anything. Every bone in her body struck its neighbor as her limbs tensed and she collapsed to the ground.
“Ow…” she muttered, picking herself up again. If she hadn’t done something similar before, she likely would have broken a bone. As it was, though, she was used to it, at least enough to shake it off with minimal effort.
Now she was a mere fifteen or twenty feet in the air. Simple. She climbed on to the balcony railing and jumped. A moment later, she was on the ground, tucking and rolling. She sprung back to her feet and raced across the street, skillfully clearing a car and vaulting over a parked semi-truck.
A couple of bystanders nearly jumped out of the way as she tore through them. She jumped towards a wall, planted her foot, and launched herself into a backflip, where she landed on a streetlight. Another small leap and she was on top of a short building. She raced across the rooftop and leapt toward a taller building. She grabbed on to the ledge with both hands and quickly hauled herself up.
The Radio Tower was now just a few buildings away. She had to climb the one closest to her to get to the top, it was so tall. She carefully, meticulously, pulled herself up inch by inch with measured steps. There were only so many places to grab on to; a windowsill, a flagpole, an aesthetic ledge, a chip in the wall. Many times, she nearly slipped; she feared to know how Falkner would fare.
But then, finally, she was at the top, and the Radio Tower jutted into the sky right in front of her. With a proud smile, she rand and jumped onto it, using some convenient handholds to pull herself up. It felt like cheating, but hey, she deserved it.
After a minute or two, she was finally at a point that the pseudo-ladder ended. She now had to face the slick, black, metallic tower all on her own. She dug her sneakers in and slowly inched up. It was monotonous and tiring, but it was all she could do. She kept her breathing steady, and willed herself to not look down. She was by no means afraid of heights, but being in danger tended to circumvent that.
But now, she was almost at the top. The glass dome above formed something of a transparent ceiling. She would have to launch herself away from the tower to grab on. Her breathing became rapid, her heart pounded in her chest with the force of a hundred Mach Punches. She screwed her eyes shut, pushed herself away, and…
She screamed, her voice tearing from her throat like a bandage from a dried wound. But… she felt something under her hands. Slowly, unwillingly, she slid her eyes open and lifted her head. She made it. She was holding on to the down. She laughed, more out of relief than anything else. Shudders wracked her body as she pulled herself up and flipped over onto her back. She stared into the sky, smiling stupidly.
When she had finally pulled herself together, she crawled to the very top of the dome and looked out over the city below.
If it had been crowded earlier, it was now packed. All of the ant-people moshed together on thin sidewalks as cars inched forward, blaring their horns at each other. From up here, the entire city seemed… insignificant. She was the most important thing in existence at that very moment, because she was at the top of the world.
Quick gasps brought her out of her brief daze. Just a couple feet to her right, Falkner was hauling himself up. Janine crawled over and helped drag him up. He collapsed on the dome, breathing heavily.
“How… how do you DO that?” he demanded.
She giggled. “Years of practice, that’s all.”
“Yeah, no… no kidding. It’s NOTHING like this in Violet City,” he breathed.
“Same for Fuchsia. That’s why I come here.”
“Yeah, I would imagine.”
She pulled her knees up under her chin and continued gazing out over the rooftops. The sun was rising rather high in the sky now, and the temperature was getting warmer.
“Say, Falkner?”
“Hmm?” he asked from the other side of the dome. They sat back to back at the top, surveying opposite sides of the city.
“Thanks for doing this with me.”
“To be honest, I was surprised you asked. Don’t you usually only do this with Koga?”
Janine sighed, sinking her chin lower. “Yeah, that’s the way it’s always been. But, for the past couple years, he’s come up with reasons to blow me off. Ever since he got the job at the League, he hasn’t been the same person.”
“I see.”
“P-plus if he had shown up, I wanted you to see exactly how great he is. Much better than your dad,” she amended, covering up her moment of weakness.
“Haha, okay,” he allowed. “Um, Janine?” he asked.
“Yes?”
“How are we supposed to get back down?”
“That’s up to you. But personally…” She stood up, almost causing him to fall over. He twisted around—painfully—to watch as she took two steps back, crouched down, and flew into the air, doing a backflip as she fell out of sight.
“JANINE?!” he exclaimed, scrambling to his feet. He swiftly moved over to the ledge and looked over, scouring the air below for any sign of her.
A high-pitched cackle boomed from above and he glanced up to see her straddling her Crobat. She gave him a small hand wave and a wink, then flew away to the east, back toward Kanto.
