Corviknight, a Pokémon first introduced in Generation VIII's Pokémon Sword and Shield, is widely found throughout the Galar region.
Although Corviknight's base stat total was only 495, its stat spread was exceptionally well-balanced. Combined with its excellent Steel/Flying typing and striking appearance, it had been one of Carl's favorite Pokémon to use in the games in his previous life.
In this life, before he had even set out on his journey, Carl had rescued a lost Rookidee that had somehow wandered into Sinnoh's Eterna Forest near Sandgem Town. Step by step, he had raised it into the massive Corviknight before him now, far larger than others of its kind.
The travelers passing by looked at the "steel giant" standing in front of Carl with open envy, though a small number of Paldean locals who knew what they were looking at cast him worried glances instead.
Carl naturally understood what that concern meant.
While Corviknight could indeed be found in parts of Paldea, the region also had its own local menace: Tinkaton. Because of the Tinkaton line's habit of attacking Corviknight with rocks, Paldea simply could not run a Corviknight taxi service the way Galar could.
After all, nobody wanted to be flying through the sky only to get knocked out of the air by a chunk of stone.
After Carl explained the state of Paldea's Corviknight population, the chief pilot under his command, Captain Corviknight, self-appointed, delivered an important statement:
"Caw?"
("The Corviknight in this region are really that weak?")
"Caw, caw-caw!"
("A few rocks? Don't underestimate the bond between me and my Trainer!")
"Then I'm counting on you." Carl stroked Corviknight's feathers with his free right hand, his voice carrying unreserved trust.
Curled up in Carl's arms, Flutter Mane flapped its wing-like tufts as if declaring, "Fwu-fwu-fwu!"
("Then I'll protect Trainer too!")
"All right, all right, you're amazing too." Carl rubbed Flutter Mane's head, motioning for it to go wait on Corviknight's back. Then he pulled a full-coverage helmet and other protective gear from his backpack, the kind designed for both riding and fishing trips, and started putting each piece on.
Having gotten a second chance at life, Carl valued it a great deal.
He knew Corviknight would use its own energy to protect him while flying, but as the saying went, better safe than sorry.
Under the complicated stares of the people around him, Carl quickly finished putting on the gear. Grabbing the edges of Corviknight's wings with both hands, he pushed off the ground with one foot. Corviknight obligingly lifted its wings, and Carl smoothly swung himself up onto the saddle mounted on its back.
That one fluid motion of mounting the bird left the "drivers" watching nearby wide-eyed in admiration, especially the beginners who had only recently caught their own flying Pokémon. Before getting their partners, plenty of them had dreamed of pulling off something that cool themselves.
Ignoring the looks around him, Carl clipped Flutter Mane into its own seat with the fastener on his chest, then reached out and patted Corviknight on the side of its neck.
Receiving the signal to take off, Corviknight spread its wings and beat them hard.
Whoosh.
It shot upward almost vertically into the sky. After reaching the designated flight altitude for riding Pokémon, Corviknight followed Carl's directions and flew southwest toward Levincia.
At the same time, Larry, briefcase in hand and breathing hard, arrived late at the launch platform just in time to see Carl, holding Flutter Mane, disappear into the clouds atop Corviknight like a rapidly shrinking black dot.
Seeing this, Larry immediately pulled a Poké Ball from his briefcase and threw it.
His ace, Staraptor, appeared before him.
As one of the main Pokémon Larry used in his role as a Flying-type Elite Four member, Staraptor's speed was not inferior in the slightest even compared with Geeta's Dragapult. In Larry's view, it would take less than ten minutes at most to catch up to the trainer carrying Flutter Mane.
After all, if his old partner were not this fast, Geeta would never have been able to treat him like a utility worker, sending him wherever he was needed.
With that thought, Larry bent low and pressed his whole body against Staraptor's back, his expression turning serious.
"Staraptor, let's enjoy the thrill of speed for once."
Feeling its trainer's resolve, Staraptor cried out. Without even waiting for a command, it used Tailwind on its own and shot off after Carl like a drawn blade.
Half an hour later, riding atop Staraptor, Larry stared blankly around him.
"I actually lost him?"
Meanwhile, Carl had already crossed Area Two and entered Area One, where Zapapico was located. A towering mountain range stretched across the landscape, drawing a sharp divide between open plains and rugged highlands.
Just as Carl was taking in the view, a rough stone scraped past Corviknight's feathers and narrowly missed his ear.
Corviknight's body jolted.
Only then did Carl snap back to attention and lean over to look below. On the mountaintop Corviknight had just flown past, he saw a pink figure holding an enormous hammer.
That stone hurled at Corviknight was like a signal.
Dozens of basketball-sized rocks came flying from nearby peaks, aimed with clear prediction at Corviknight's flight path.
"Caw?!" the Corviknight beneath Carl cried out excitedly.
First, it folded its wings and dropped in freefall to avoid the first incoming stone. Then it tilted its body, spread its wings, and began gliding along a curved path, weaving neatly through the barrage of rocks as if slipping through a curtain of bullets.
The Tinkaton below stared blankly for a second at the showboating Corviknight, then their eyes lit up as if they had seen a rare treasure. With renewed excitement, they swung their huge hammers and smashed more stones into the air toward it.
But no matter how dense the barrage became, Corviknight always twisted away from the incoming rocks at impossible angles. Only after Corviknight had finally worn the Tinkaton below out from all the dodging did Carl reach down and pat the bird beneath him.
"Corviknight, did you have fun?"
"Caw-guu~"
("I did~")
"Good." Feeling the emotion in Corviknight's cry, Carl smiled as well. "Then let's keep going. At your speed, we should reach our destination before noon."
...
"Sorry, Chairwoman."
Holding his phone, Larry bowed apologetically to the empty air as he spoke.
"I lost him."
Beside him, Staraptor sensed the disappointment in its trainer's voice and raised a wing to pat Larry on the back in comfort.
Inside an office at Paldea League headquarters, Geeta, Top Champion of Paldea, Chairwoman of the Paldea League, and Chairwoman of Naranja Academy, listened to Larry's report and said, "No, Larry, there's no need to apologize. If anything, what you discovered was already a tremendous help."
She offered a few words of reassurance, assigned him several more tasks while she was at it, and only then ended the call.
"Carl, eighteen years old. Father was an explorer affiliated with the Paldea League…"
Resting her chin lightly atop her folded hands, Geeta let her eyes race over the information she had pulled from the Paldea League's confidential database. At last, her gaze stopped on a file that had been updated only a month earlier.
"One month ago, the target challenged the Kanto League and won. After that, the target entered Mt. Silver…"
As Paldea's Top Champion, Geeta knew perfectly well that any one of the Kanto Elite Four possessed the potential to stand at a regional Champion's level. And to her, a trainer like Carl, someone who could defeat all four of them, was even more enticing than an open-air Tera crystal deposit.
At that moment, Geeta's eyes practically shone.
She no longer cared nearly as much about the mysterious Pokémon that had somehow escaped from Area Zero. Looking at Carl's somewhat youthful ID photo on the screen, she revealed a smile as dangerous as it was beautiful, like a blooming Glimmora.
"What's the best way," she murmured, "to make him stay in Paldea?"