Looking up at the boundless blue sky, Blaziken felt as though its senses had been magnified countless times.
It felt the wind, felt the sunlight, felt that innate yet never truly touched... freedom.
The feeling was extraordinarily wondrous, and it could not help thinking of a line from one of Xinhai's stories—flight was the highest form of enjoying freedom!
That was an incredibly precise description. Beneath this sky, there were no obstacles, no boundaries, nothing that could bind you.
You could go up, down, left, or right. You could change direction at any time, accelerate or decelerate whenever you wished.
As long as you wanted to, you could do all of it.
Experiencing this freedom for the first time, Blaziken's Qi surged in its chest, and its eyes moistened unconsciously.
Unable to hold back any longer, it raised its head and let out a long cry—
"Shaamo—!!!"
The cry pierced through the wind and clouds, echoing through the blue sky for a long time.
There was no pain or sorrow in that cry, only pure exhilaration from the depths of its soul.
"Chirp!!!"
White Cloud followed behind Blaziken and raised his head as well, letting out a clear cry as though celebrating for his new friend.
Once the long cry ended, Blaziken calmed down, its breathing becoming slow and even once more.
The Fire-type energy within it remained blazing, and its Fighting-type energy remained steady, but at that moment, a third kind of energy was quietly awakening inside it.
That was Blaziken's Flying-type energy.
Blaziken closed its eyes, and the images in its mind began to overlap—
Pidgeot's posture when diving—its body tucked into a streamlined shape, its wings pressed close against its body, then flung open just before reaching the ground to use Qi resistance and pull sharply upward.