It'd been an exhaustingly long battle to get to this point. The Swanna had harried Morgan through the skies and the moonlit treetops, trying to pin Morgan down with powerful sweeps of her white wings and high-pressure jets of bubbling water. Every time Morgan slipped away, getting a dark delight in stealing a few kisses from her Trainer when the Swanna wasn't looking and disappearing into the darkness with amused chuckles before they could catch her.

They'd played that cat-and-mouse game for hours. The Trainer was doggedly determined, Morgan had to give her that. The human had gotten breathless from all the running as she sent her Swanna out to pen Morgan in. The white feathers in the Trainer's hair were soaked with sweat, glossy in the moonlight as she caught her breath leaning on a tree. But every time Morgan thought she could finally slip away, the Trainer would take a deep breath, beat her chest, and call her Swanna round to keep up the attack.

On and on, Morgan led them around in circles, taking a sadistic joy in their frustration until she, too, got tired and slipped. A simple mistake, getting caught in the feather dance of the Swanna, but it was just so beautiful to watch. She'd let her attention slip from the Trainer for just a second, and that was all it took for her to get Morgan in a hug. It was a pathetic hold, Morgan had run every last bit of strength out of her limbs, but that didn't matter. Every ritual had its rules, and Morgan had been caught, so she was obliged to offer a gift.

The Trainer might have been slick with sweat and exhausted, but her body was fit, her smile was pretty, and it all worked Morgan up a treat. So there was only one reward it could have been.

Scratched, scuffed, and thoroughly ruffled, the Swanna was happy to let her body be the bed on which Morgan could fulfill her dues. Morgan dug her fingers through the Swanna's feathers, her long nails teasing at the skin underneath. Her white feathers were delightfully soft and cool, a nice contrast to the firm muscle of the hot, panting woman Morgan was busy breaking in.

"You are a real monster, aren't you?" the Swanna smirked over the shoulder of the gorgeously fit human pressed between. "Put a little of that savagery into my brave Cassidy. I think she likes it."

The Swanna, 'Harper' as Morgan would learn later, had a grip firmly on Cassidy's butt, and she was trying to control the pace Morgan was fucking her Trainer, with little success. Harper was just as exhausted as Cassidy was, and Morgan had conserved her energy. She could never have beat Harper in a fair fight, but an unfair one? Her specialty. Now she had the strength to pound Cassidy up against her Partner and coax fresh cries out of a throat already sore from shouting at Morgan to stop running and show herself.

Cassidy was a mess, weak and pliant in Morgan's arms. It was such a thrill to be able to take her exactly how she wished. Cassidy's pleasure was entirely in Morgan's control, and Morgan was feeling very generous, fucking the exhausted girl through some even more exhausting orgasms. There was still a little defiance in her Trainer. The way Cassidy was holding onto her hair for support and the irresistible feel of warm, slick flesh wrapped around her cock made Morgan want to go until she'd fucked every last bit of it out of Cassidy and left her a gently cooing puddle.

This moment made it all worth it when everyone was so worn down that emotions couldn't be bottled up or needs denied. Their feelings all melted into each other. Harper's excitement at Cassidy's moans became Morgan's excitement. Morgan's hunger for more the wind in the feathers of the others to keep going to one last round. Past the point of pleasure and skill into pure desire and thoughtless action.

"I'm gonna cum again," Cassidy groaned, resigned that it would happen because Morgan wanted it. A thrill shivered through the Trainer's body as she was being honed to an edge she'd never even thought she could attain. Harper's beautiful eyes watching them both with pride and a little jealousy. A jumble of emotions worn on their skin, everyone open and clear.

Morgan struggled to relate with people normally, but moments like this felt like she'd finally cast a spell that could fix that. Understanding, even if it was completely based in desire.

"And again," Harper laughed and comforted Cassidy with her feathers. "And again. Who could resist someone as pretty as you? Look at her. She wants to fuck you until the sun rises."

Cassidy's eyes were unfocused, her mind swimming on the edge of unconsciousness as her body began to give. But Morgan caught a glimpse of Cassidy's bright green eyes, and in the moment, she was as open a book to Cassidy as the Trainer was to her. She wanted this, to be with Cassidy until the sun came and went again. To be understood so intensely she didn't have to fumble through words and gestures, and could just be understood.

One part of a greater whole.

Morgan had found her Flock.

---

"Stay still, you witchy hat sneaky fuck. I'll smash you into the sea!"

Morgan laughed as the Rufflet raced over the rooftop to try to clip her with a peck. She was way faster than Morgan could be if she put her mind to it, but she was letting her anger control her thoughts. Morgan burst apart into black feathers as the Rufflet pecked at her with a glowing beak and then spun to slash madly at the feathers with her talons. She was still raging when Harper stepped in to smack her with her wing and send her tumbling over the edge of the skyscraper.

The Rufflet growled as she spilled over the edge, and the growl became a full-on squawk when she saw Morgan standing on the side of the building, waving at her.

"I'll get you!" the Rufflet growled, swiping for Morgan's hat. Morgan danced aside and gave the Rufflet a swat on the rear as she passed. Absolutely not! No one got her hat.

Glass screeched as the Rufflet caught a claw on the side of the building and righted herself, coming back up like a missile, a ball of wind rushing behind her that made the windows shake in their frames.

"Tailwind!" Cassidy called. "Foul Play it, then get back up here, Morgan! We'll finish this together!"

The ball of anger that was the Rufflet ran right into Morgan again without a single thought in her white-feather crested head. Morgan tapped her on the nose with a finger before sweeping under her, darkness billowing out from her wings to wrap the Rufflet up, soak up that cascading Tailwind energy, and then launch her on up right into the arms of Harper, who twisted and smashed the Rufflet down onto the rooftop with her wings so heavily Morgan's teeth shook.

A shared thrill of victory ran through them all, the Rufflet had been a feisty, unceasing attacker once roused, but they'd all worked together to wear her down, and they were going to beat that anger out of her before they smothered her with kisses and Cassidy.

Morgan beamed with pride as she gave a theatrical flourish and a tip of the hat to some office workers watching her stand outside their window. Then she swept her wings back to push herself up the side of the building and back to the fight. The Rufflet was only getting angrier, and they planned to keep stoking that flame until she burned herself out. That pure, intense emotion was something they could all sink into, throwing Cassidy into an exhausted hate fucking that might bubble over into a new team member once tempers had cooled and the heart was left open and raw.

She'd get along with this one just fine.

--

The roar of the crowd didn't bother Morgan. It had a single-minded excitement and a love for flourishes she wanted desperately to indulge in. But the Flock was all together; she couldn't step out of it right now and break the rhythm. Basilah's fury sang in their hearts as she rushed at the long green snake woman with the haughty expression and mocking green eyes. Vines curled around her body and snapped at Basilah's limbs, catching her once again.

"Morgan, Harper, in on her and help out!"

They moved as one, Harper's fluid grace and hidden power in her white wings with Morgan as her black feathered shadow, the bite they wouldn't see coming. Or at least that's how it should have been. The puffy-haired Pokémon with rams horns was still shaking herself back and fore, spores spilling off her and coating the arena. It stuck to all their feathers and weighed them down, wing tips screeching along the ground.

"Change target, all of you on the Whimsicott while she's close!"

Basilah was so hopelessly stuck in the snake-woman's vines that she couldn't join them, and her anger at her helplessness bled over the bond into Morgan. They'd already taken out the sleepy mushroom girl. Charging in was so stupid! She could break off and ambush while Harper engaged her or free Basilah up while attentions were divided. But they worked best as one, so Morgan backed up Harper, trying to slide in a few swipes as the Swanna battered at the Whimsicott with her wings, all while Basilah sunk further into the vines until she was wholly subsumed.

They got taken apart slowly, fighting wing and claw beside each other to hold off the attacks, but they were getting worn down. Morgan's trick, and now she was falling for it, letting herself be led around. She wanted to hide, to lurk and snap out when needed, but Cassidy never called it. They worked as a Flock, each one part of a whole, and as a whole, they lost.

In the showers later, they hugged together, letting their feathers merge, and Cassidy formed the warm heart of their group. It felt good and right again until the warm water ran out.

Morgan didn't know what Cassidy had been thinking, but she had to trust her Trainer. They were in this together.

---

"You've bested me," the Corvisquire said, pinned to the wall by all three of them, claws pressed into her black feathers. They were so like Morgan's own. "About time someone did."

It was a mess, they'd taken the Corvisquire head-on, and the clever Pokémon had quickly got the measure of them. She fought down Basilah's strength with her sharp movements and quick attacks to offset her balance. Harper's more measured style she'd baited in and left scratches all down her arms as her honed claws had bit deep and left Harper moaning out in ecstasy, barely able to stand.

Morgan had barely been a help, racing in with them, trying to trade blows, and getting tangled up in a bola the Corvisquire had used, Cassidy only calling for her to teleport out after she'd tried wrenching it off by hand. Stupid of her. She wasn't a powerful brute like Basilah. It should have been obvious, but she'd got lost in the moment. When the fighting started, they dove in together, one heart and mind. There wasn't time for tricks or theatrics.

It'd worked eventually, but Morgan had been all but useless. She knew her team so well it made her heart feel like it'd burst sometimes. She could feel Basilah's strength and Harper's coiled power as if it were hers. But she couldn't use it. That wasn't her.

Frustrating, endlessly frustrating.

Morgan relaxed, sinking into the feeling of the Flock, letting her worries and frustrations drift away. There was the excitement of what was to come next, Cassidy getting fucked, another bold new face to join the Flock. More strength and power to feel like her own, more understanding.

Harper watched her with a calculating gaze as Morgan took some breaths, and it felt discordant. Morgan usually knew Harper's moves before she made them, but right then, she couldn't have said what that gaze was about. Worry? Pity?

It faded. There were better things to be getting on with.

---

Basilah's evolution made Morgan cry with happiness. Seeing the Rufflet spread her wings and become the massive bird everyone knew she was was so good. A towering Braivary whose strength finally matched her attitude. Cassidy was hugging the life out of her, and it was well deserved. Basilah had always been at the tip of every fight, the head of their Flock, the first to take the punch, and the anger they all leaned on to keep taking those hits. They'd improved a lot since that Tournament, Brenna as one wing and Harper as the other, with Morgan the tail waiting to bat at anything that got by them. A role that suited her sneaky ways a little better, though one she rarely made much impact in.

It was fine. Today was Basilah's day, she'd fucking earned this, and Morgan couldn't be happier for her.

"You're next, Morgan!" Cassidy grinned as she hugged Basilah's newly enhanced chest. Completely towered over, most would have been scared by the imposing Braivary, but Cassidy was fearless around the Flock. "We'll find what you want."

Morgan smiled and tipped her hat. Finding her place in the group and spreading her wings sounded nice.

She just couldn't think what that was right now, and as the nights crept on, she thought more and more about that. Something was missing, and the realization of just what it was threatened everything they'd made together.

What if there wasn't a place for her at all?

--

"It feels weird not to have everyone here," Cassidy said as she kicked her legs over the edge of the Skyarrow bridge. The wind up at the top of the suspension bridge was biting cold, but Morgan was smoothing it around them with little flutters of her wings.

"Let them stretch their wings," Morgan said as she sat beside Cassidy, one wing around her Trainer. "We've all been with you so long. We're some odd Flying types."

"I thought there'd be more breaks, but I'm happy there aren't." Cassidy wormed her way to the side to lean her head on Morgan's chest. "You all feel like a part of me."

A lump in her throat, a feeling of belonging. Morgan really did love this, but she'd committed now and had to follow through.

"I feel a part of you too." Morgan sighed, "But I want to be more."

"I don't understand," Cassidy nuzzled her head to Morgan's chest, relaxed even now. "We're a team. You're a part of it. There's no more to be had."

It stung harder than Morgan could bear to hear that, her fingers digging into Cassidy's arm as she tried to push away Basilah's anger. That she could feel it from so far off, strange.

"You asked what I wanted," Morgan said, every word measured as if climbing out over a vast drop with no wind here for her wings to catch. "I want a piece of you."

"Any part you want, Morgan, you know that. We share it all."

"No," Morgan clicked her tongue. "I want a piece of you for me alone. I want a part of you to think of me and not the others. Apart from the Flock."

"You love being part of this though," Cassidy pressed a hand to Morgan's cheek. "I can feel how much you love it; being understood. Through all your words, the feeling is in there, and I feel it strong as my own heartbeat."

It was tempting, oh so tempting to dive back in. To feel that shared love, but she couldn't.

"It's not me." Morgan hated saying, "It hasn't been me for a while now. They're all fearless fighters, brave and forthright. I'm not that. I'm... confusing."

"You want to be confusing?"

"No," Morgan shook her head. She hated that, failing to be understood, yet every part of her resisted being open and honest. She delighted in tricks and deceit and hated how it messed up her life, but she just couldn't stop, not without the Flock to lean on. Letting herself melt away. "But I can't fight like this with you all. I'm not myself when I'm this at ease."

"Morgan, we'll change." Cassidy laid an arm on Morgan's wing. "You're important. Whatever it is, we can fix it. I don't want you to be miserable."

"I've been happier than I've ever been, but I hate it. It feels like I didn't try." Morgan adjusted her hat, huffing little gusts of wind that ruffled her feathers.

"That doesn't make any sense." Cassidy shook her head, "Morgan, please, just tell me what you want. We can fix this together."

The gulf, that misunderstanding. It couldn't be worked out together. Together was the problem. Morgan wasn't meant to be part of a group. She was a loner who exhausted women and had her way with them when they thought so simply she didn't need to speak. She wasn't Basilah's fury or Harper's calm. Not Brenna's cunning or any bird who'd follow. She was Morgan. Confusing, sly, and a puzzle no one quite understands.

What did she want? Cassidy, as much as she could grab for herself, enough she could shape her to be less bold, more sly. Less reliant on a team and more on each part of the whole.

She wanted to smash everything they'd made together because she was a piece that didn't fit. She couldn't do that, not to Harper or Basilah. Not to Cassidy or even the new Brenna. They were a Flock, tied together, bonded by heart. They'd taken what Morgan wanted, made it their own, and loved it. They all really did.

She wanted something Cassidy would give her, but it'd tear the Flock apart. Flying Types rarely worked well together. Flying Ace's were even rarer. Cassidy was going to be one of the best. Morgan knew it.

It just couldn't be with her.

--

She was rusty and outnumbered. The moonlight shining above was as bright as when they'd first met, but Morgan wasn't as quick to hide in the shadows as she once was. She'd have been caught if not for knowing everything the Flock could do so intimately it was as if the bond still held. The frayed end of it whipped nastily in her chest, her heart thumping angrily as it tried to contain the poison she'd spat into it.

Cassidy wouldn't give her up easily, she knew the Flock, and they were relentless. Morgan had worn Cassidy out once, and she could do it again, let Cassidy go her own way and grow to become the Ace she was destined to be. It wouldn't be easy, but Morgan couldn't find the words to explain herself, not even to someone who'd been a part of her for so long. When words failed, action was all that was left, and a Dark never shied from their instincts.

Morgan spread her wings and headed for the shadows hoping they'd shield her from the parts of herself she was trying to leave behind.