While Eva's presence was welcome, it came as no surprise to Josh. The Peacemaker's supernatural senses and the Science Sisters' technology could locate Mega Stones anywhere in Hoenn's wilds. It was a matter of going out there and finding them. This Pidgeotite, though, would be Josh's greatest challenge yet. It was in a location that could not be directly reached, even by air.

Quickly growing bored that there was no worthy prey around the desert, Aleph about-faced and galloped toward Josh and his Pidgeot steed. Pazuzu blew a TAILWIND in the charging Pokémon's face, slowing him down enough for Josh to withdraw him. "I don't get what his problem is. Aleph is so violent."

Once all was at peace again, he could properly greet the emerald serpent's wielder. "It's been too long. How you been, Eva? Did you and Rayquaza get to escape velocity yet?" As he voiced his words, he couldn't even picture what that would feel like or look like. It was one, if not two orders of magnitude faster than any Pokémon in his arsenal.

The Gym Leader reviewed the briefing that illeana reyes had composed for him. "So the readings came from the peak of a mountain shrouded in a constant fog too thick to see through? Might need to survey just beneath the clouds to find a way inside the mountain itself." The Master of Faster slammed his helmet's visor into place and held Pazuzu's reins firmly. "Ready when you are!"

"We'll probably need to find a way in just below the fog," Josh suggested, watching the Head Professor hop into the saddle of a Pidgeot of her own. Pazuzu screeched alongside Dolly if she so desired. The two TAILWINDS working together thrust the duo forward. While it wasn't quite the EXTREME SPEED the woman's Patron was capable of, the dual hurricane-force winds at their backs did close enough impressions. A big grin found its way onto Josh's face as he soared above the sands. After what he went through in Dewford, did letting loose and just going fast feel good.

As the birds' riders approached, Josh pulled back on Pazuzu's reins, the bird's TAILWIND ceasing. He circled around the crags just beneath the fog, finding something odd. Was that... the tatters of a dusty blue carpet? With both of them on comms due to the nature of their trip, Josh flipped his microphone switch on. "Think we have a hit. Come to my coordinates, would you please?"

Provided the Doctor did so, he would show them a place where they could land near his point of discovery. Now on foot, he would lead the way to where he found the tattered, blue carpet. The natural crags of the mountain gave way to mortars as he made his way inside the mountain. That inside wouldn't last long; after only a few minutes of walking, they would find a blinding light at its end, giving way to what was hidden within the dense fog. If Eva had heard stories of the Braviary's Nest from Shalin, they would come to mind as they beheld what appeared to be the ruins of an even bigger archaeological marvel, hidden deep from view around or above Hoenn. Hidden even from the eyes of the gods.

[player]https://fi.zophar.net/soundfiles/gameboy-advance-gsf/legend-of-zelda-the-the-minish-cap/49%20Palace%20of%20Winds.mp3[/player]

The Palace of Winds.

Josh was equally starstruck at the undiscovered site. If the Braviary's Nest was the first-known stronghold of Alexei Ivanov 's ancestors and bird trainers, then this had to be the pinnacle of their creation. Far above them, dense fog. Below them, dense fog. It was questionable whether even the apex avian predators' KEEN EYES could see through it.

Josh led the way around a winding stone stairway, most of which was surrounded on one or both sides by white, terrifying void. Even the stone itself looked like it could crumble beneath them in places, prompting Josh to consider taking a seat on his Pidgeot's back again. "Watch your footing, and have your flying Pokémon's Poké Ball in your hand at all times. And I thought the waterway you helped find my Absolite at was dangerous. Look at all the bird Pokémon here!" Circling above were many varieties of fully-evolved flying-types brandishing talons that looked like they could shred flesh, human or Pokémon.

As they rounded the last corner, the sound of a small piece of stone breaking away from the staircase made Josh flinch and pick up the pace. "Holy..." he gasped, now on the same level as the ruined palace's main entrance. It would in theory be a hop, skip, and a jump on the back of a flying Pokémon to get there, if it weren't for several Staraptor circling the landing platform above.

Before he could remark on it, a glint from beneath a split brick caught the Gym Leader's eye. He moved the half of the brick covering the sparkle's source: a jagged fragment of a hard yellow, orange, and red stone with an Infinity Energy signature. "This is... This is Pidgeotite, isn't it?" Josh asked, keeping his eyes out for threats before peering around the main structure's southeast corner.

You obtained a PIDGEOTITE FRAGMENT! This is your 1st one!

"Right..." Josh sighed. With the Peacemaker and her DELTA STREAM at his side, he did not have to fear falling. If they were ever in truly dire straits, the emerald serpent was a moment away. He hoped he would be able to handle many of the dangers of the Palace of Winds himself, showing how much more resourceful, and how much stronger of a combatant, he had become since the war.

"Sadly, Pazuzu doesn't know how to use Whirlwind," Josh answered. "He's built for racing first and battle second." He backed away to the very corner of the ledge they were standing on, trying to get a view of the platform above. "I see an entrance to the main site... I think," he shakily added with a squint. "I don't like those Pokémon, though. Not from below. I'm gonna head around and look for another way first."

Winding around a rickety-looking concourse, Josh's ears caught something even more curious: the sound of howling winds and the sight of a grate composed of an unknown alloy. Beneath the grate blew an intense wind that lifted Josh off his feet. "Wah!" he cried, landing on his rump. At first glance, science could not explain why the column of wind was blowing.

Wanting to test something, he dropped an empty Poké Ball over the column of moving air. The device went flying high into the air, dropping into the column before seemingly levitating at almost exactly the height of a higher concourse above them. "Fascinating... you think it's a wind-powered elevator?" Josh gasped in awe. Where the ancients lacked in modern machinery, they certainly had their own fascinating technology.

Boarding Resheph, his Dragonair, Josh rode the winds upward to the concourse. It would be trivial for Eva to use the rushing air herself without a Pokémon. They couldn't fly too high, though, lest they get the attention of the many flying Pokémon in the area. While many of them were birds, there were adult dragons on the prowl, too. Getting surrounded by them would be a death sentence.

The upper level took the duo almost all the way around the palace, though they could still not find a back entrance to the main ruins site. Passing by another, similar looking grate, Josh reined Resheph into a vertical position to see above him. There was another level above them, but it seemed really high up; far higher than the moving air would lift them. "That's... really high up. Do your powers include making the air--"

[player]https://fi.zophar.net/soundfiles/gameboy-advance-gsf/legend-of-zelda-the-the-minish-cap/14%20Danger.mp3[/player]

Before Josh could finish, a Swellow, and a giant one at that, blindsided the Gym Leader, carrying him across a narrow pass and onto a stone, windbrisk dais of great size, as though it were a landing platform for bird Pokémon. Resheph was quick to tag the blue bird with a HYPER BEAM, slithering through the air toward her trainer in her exhaustion. That wasn't the only huge and swift bird; there were three more circling above, one that was quick to sink its talons into the Dragonair with an unavoidable AERIAL ACE maneuver!

Meanwhile, Josh's shoulder bled from the flying-type having sunk its talons into him. He struggled to his feet, hurling Raikiri's Poké Ball in front of him. The mythical thundercat threatened to fry anything that approached him, his PLASMA PAWS overflowing with white, arcing electricity.

Working together with the Professor's Pidgeot and Gallade, the Pokémon were able to dispatch their Swellow assailants. As if on cue, one of the dais' "eyes" composing the floating floor receded behind the other, a glint from beneath catching the Gym Leader's eye. Leaning down as the Gallade's HEAL PULSE soothed his wounds and those of his Pokémon, he picked up the small object hidden away.

You obtained a PIDGEOTITE FRAGMENT! This is your 2nd one!

"Thanks for the save," Josh exhaled as he showed the doctor his find. "Mega Evolution must have been more powerful in the ancient past if the people who once lived here went to such great lengths to prevent people from having it." They weren't wrong, either; the power of Mega Evolution was incredible.

Eva Morales ' wind manipulation powers were a known quantity, and one that seemed to be put to good use here. With a little help from his Dragonair, he made his way back to the column of wind. "Looks like we can make it up to the next floor from here," Josh observed aloud, raising his hands skyward before stepping into the fast-moving air. It lifted him up to the second level, the Gym Leader waiting until his partner followed him before proceeding onward.

Before them were more crumbled spans and bridges that would require a flying Pokémon to pass. From beyond what appeared to be a guard tower on the northwest side, he could hear the whistling of more high winds. With the tower in the way and air conditions around him unpredictable, he wasn't comfortable trying to fly around the tower. With how strong the wild Pokémon were, all it could take would be one hit to knock him into the white abyss below. Even if he somehow survived the fall, who would find him in fog so thick?

"You hear that?" Josh asked, drawing notes on his phone's touch screen. While they were well out of the range of service, he could at least run apps by using Local Mode. It was more a PDA than a phone now, but that was all he needed it for. "Let's see if we can get there," he pointed on his map, to a spot directly to the west of where they were... or whichever direction the noise was coming from. With the thickness of the fog obscuring the place, it was difficult to tell which direction was north.

Crossing the expanses of void where conventional travel means had long since collapsed away required some tricky flying, but nothing an Avatar of winds and arguably Hoenn's most skilled rider couldn't handle. As they rounded yet another corner, they would at last get their first clue as to what was in the palace's interior. Along the east side were intermittently-blowing fans composed of Skarmory wing blades, creating huge gusts of wind that would blow even the most stout flying Pokémon away were they caught in the air currents' wake.

Josh, too, utilized Pazuzu to save energy; with how high up each new floor was, it waz clearly designed to be traversed by bird Pokémon or powers bestowed upon the palace's residents by bird Pokémon. The columns of air threatened to destabilize even Pazuzu, and they did in their first battle with the fierce winds; the Gym Leader and his steed had dove half a floor, catching the attention of two Swellow. The giant, racing-trained bird got them off his trail with a dizzying burst of AGILITY that made even Josh catch his breath when he rejoined Eva Morales .

An array of stained-glass windows adorned the north side of the palace's second level. Beyond them appeared to be apartment-like residences, almost like college dorm rooms. The scale of the place was incredible; it was almost like a small city in the sky, only accesible to those who had tamed bird Pokémon. To think something like this could have existed in the clouds was astounding to think about. "Hey, look at this - they acknowledged your Patron," Josh pointed out the rough image of the emerald serpent in one of the windows.

The views inside, while fascinating, still gave them no clue how to get inside, even as the duo came to another column of air they could ride up to the third floor. "So what you been up to?" Josh asked. "I finally made some advancements in my bid for Champion. Barely took down MATIAS SILPH after two attempts. Just gotta get through Greyson Connors , and I'll be able to rematch Kyle and his Entei."