Lost Children
Flash-Forward: This is All My Fault
"Dad. Daaaaaaaad. DAAAAAAAAAAD!"
Edie Adler's eyes shot open and she jerked up, gasping, to see a Swampert staring at her. A goofy smile crossed his face. "Gee Willikers, Dad, you're finally awake! Sleepyhead."
"Phil…?"
She sat up, her voice weak and rasping. Her head pounded; she rubbed her temples and felt at a bloody gap in her teeth. She breathed through her mouth, nose smashed and nostrils clogged with blood, and as she breathed her ribs grated. She knew that feeling— something had cracked. She rubbed at her gray eyes and examined her surroundings. A small island with a short patch of greenery. The beach grass rustled in the cold, early morning breeze.
She shivered and clutched her arms around herself. "What…what happened?"
Phil sat down next to her. "Well, I picked everybody up in the water and then I took us all to this nice island. Everybody took a nap and then I woke up and now you're awake!" He clapped his fins in delight. "It's like we're on vacation!"
"Phil, we weren't asleep, we all passed out. We were all going to drown. You saved us."
He beamed. "Gotta take care of my family! Especially you, Dad!"
"Phil, for the twentieth time, I'm not—"
"Oh, good, you're awake." Edie turned to see a Persian padding up to her, ears flat back against her head and fur damp. She was clearly displeased. "Well, that plan went absolutely fantastically."
Edie rose to her feet, stumbling from the soreness that shot through her. "I'm sorry." She clutched at what was left of her peroxide blond hair, pacing a swatch of sand. "We shouldn't have followed him."
"We need to get back to Pallet Town as soon as possible," the Persian suggested, before shaking her head. "God, if it wasn't for Phil, we'd all be dead. Or worse."
Edie spun around, looking around her patch of sand. Nothing but the clothes on her back. "I lost everything. No money, no phone, no meds."
"Not that we need any of that anymore."
She rubbed her eyes with her palms, sighing. "This is all my fault, Kyoshi. I'm such an idiot. We all almost died."
"Well…" Kyoshi rolled her eyes. "…yes. Yes we did."
Edie crouched in the sand, running a hand over her face. "What are we going to do?"
"Run. Or hide."
Edie shot a look at her. "No. I'm not hiding."
"Sure, why not! That will go well. A one-woman team versus a mafia. Great. Fantastic. We'll all be dead. Is that what you want?" Her voice softened as Edie rubbed tears from her eyes. "We got ourselves into this mess. We need to find a way out alive."
"Everything…everything is wrong. It shouldn't be like this. This can't happen." Edie choked out a sob. "This isn't real."
"We're wanted dead by the most dangerous man in the region, Kanto is about to fall to a criminal organization, we're all injured, and we're sitting on an island in the middle of the ocean." Edie looked up at Kyoshi, eyes bloodshot. "This is all very and truly real."
Action! Adventure! Murder! Friendship! Poison! Shopping sprees! Mental disorders! Casinos! Romance! Alcohol! Drugs! Confused Swamperts! Bras used as hats! Jumping out of windows! Revenge! Fancy parties! Welcome to Lost Children!
I guarantee that this story will make you pee with emotion.
