A Wild Magikarp... Does NOT Appear!

Shadow dragged herself out of the lake, flapping her still-outstretched wings to dry them. She couldn't fly with wet wings. When her wings were usable, she took off to the top of the cliff, landing at the spot where Simca's clothes lay in a crumpled pile. Shadow picked them up, then paused and looked back. Simca was gazing at her, with an expression of... what was it? Almost... jealously. Shadow was confused. Simca was the happy, beautiful, famous one; Shadow was dark and often considered creepy. What was there to be jealous of?

It doesn't matter, Shadow told herself. That's Simca's business. Don't worry about it. She flew over the river, grabbed her pile of books and gently landed next to Simca on the banks of the lake, turning away as she got dressed. With Simca's permission, she looked around and found the pinkhead fussing over her hair.

The following question, for once, didn't surprise Shadow; she hadn't expected to be immediately taken to their base. She considered her answer. 'Well, I need to return these books to the library, if it's still open. As for the rest, well, up to you.' Shadow wasn't one for socialising; even though she had grown up there, she didn't know any popular haunts in Jump City. She'd been confined to the house for most of her teenage years anyway, and for the last twelve months, been captive of a mad scientist. Anything she knew would be out of date, surely.

((Sorry I'm late, afraid I got lost on the road of life. XD))

"Well then!" Simca chirped as she finished having gotten dressed, clasping both hands together excitedly. She had a new friend, a new teammate and the Slivers now had one more much welcome addition to their little group. Sure, not counting Krious, Shadow was actually the first much welcome addition to the Slivers, but hey, whose counting, right?

"To the library!" she said, raising her fist into the air in a mock declaration. Without waiting for the other girl to respond, Simca began running away from the Lake, towards the Jump City skyline that was somewhat visible from beyond the treetops of the nearby forest. She knew Shadow could keep up, since she could fly for crying out loud, so she did not bother to wait for the dark winged angel, simply turning around once and waving to her before Simca crouched low.

In a graceful, fluid and almost cat-like motion, the girl pounced up into the air before pulling off a quadruple somersault. As soon as she finished the acrobatic stunt, which had thrust her even higher into the air, she flipped. Normally, she would have fallen straight down, however, it seemed that the air solidified underneath her feet and almost like a trampoline, it pushed down, decreasing her inertia before she simply came to float in a crouched position in the air for what seemed like all of two seconds...

Poing!

Before launching high up into the sky with all the elasticity the bounciest trampoline in the world could get her. Simca felt the air colliding with her cheeks, her hair bounding between her head and her wet form slowly drying away as the water vapor evaporated from her bare skin and dried away from her clothes. Being the wind felt so good. Too bad, for her, it wouldn't last. Soon enough, gravity began to act and she began to fall again, only for her to extend her legs and pull of a Front Aerial in order to reestablish her position in the air.

Oh, how she envied beings who could fly. How she envied Shadow, for her amazing wings that could keep her airborne for figurative eternity instead of a mere handful of moments as was her case. But she would not let that get in the way of their friendship; Shadow was her new friend, and after constant searching for members, she was the only one who had so far agreed to join their team. Simca owed Shadow a favor, of sorts, and the pinkhead was more than willing to make Shadow's life with the Slivers as happy and comfortable as it could possibly be.

But first, the library.

(It's all good. Stuff happens.)

'Uh... yeah. Let's go.' Shadow was at a slight loss for words in the face of Simca's overwhelmingly happy-go-lucky attitude. There had to be something underneath all that, right? Shadow knew it was none of her business but she couldn't help feeling curious. The emotion was refreshing; it had been a long time since she'd had any stimulation. Maybe hanging around with Simca could improve her socially awkward personality.

As Simca bounded around in the air, moving towards the city all the time, Shadow spread her wings once more and followed. Simca's abilities were much clearer to her now, and Shadow saw that she didn't fly, but, as she had said, used the air like a trampoline. In fact, there had been some description of such powers in one of the books she read. It was called... what was it? That's right, airwalking.

Hmm... airwalking, huh... I wonder what else she can do. Shadow mused. I guess I'll find out. We're teammates now, after all...

Shadow directed her attention back to the stack of books in her arms, making sure they were balanced. She didn't want to drop any. It's not like she had any money to replace them. So, until they got to the library, she had to fly carefully... and she had to stop thinking about irrelevant things.

Concentrate!