She ran, panting and gasping for any air that would get into her lungs as she attempted to keep herself from getting shot. They had found her at the edge of Route 209 as she was heading from Hearthome City and waited until nightfall before attacking. She couldn't see two feet in front of her face and was running into all kinds of foliage as she scampered about in the woods. The trees themselves were good cover but she knew they had all kinds of high tech heat tracking machinery onboard their ship.

She stopped, just for a moment to catch her fleeting breath, and looked around. The lights of the ship were swirling around her but not quite touching her and she took that as a good sign. Maybe they couldn't find her on their radar. The worst part is that she couldn't even release her Pokémon to lend a hand. Her legs were in immense pain from the heavy duty running she had just put herself through, her lungs were ready to collapse in on themselves and, above all else, she was tired. How long could she really keep this up, she wondered

"FIRE BLAST!" she heard a voice scream from behind the tree she was leaning on and on cue a swirling vortex of heat and light came barreling past her.

In her mad dash to safety she brushed her shoulder against the burning wood of the tree, burning through her shirt and stabbing at the dark tan skin underneath it. Silently, she cursed to herself and continued to bolt through the thick mass of vegetation before her.

Branches struck her face, cutting into the delicate skin of her cheeks because of the speed she was running at. She tripped over the upturned tree roots but pushed herself to go forward anyways. Where she was running she hadn't the slightest idea, all she knew was that she had to run fast.

Another fire blast came at her and she ducked just in time not to have her head burned off. She cursed again, the stinging in her shoulder intensifying with every long stride she took.

The trees were finally starting to clear and she found both solace and terror with the realization that without a lot of tree cover she'd be an easy target for that ship that had suddenly popped out of nowhere yet again. She could hear the footsteps of a Pokémon charging after her, closely followed by a screaming team Galactic member and she began to panic. Whatever Pokémon that was coming after her had four legs and an angry master, she had two legs and was worn out completely.

"FIRE BLAST AGAIN!"

And that was it, she realized, that attack was going to hit her and there was nothing she could do but give it her last ditch effort to try and dodge it. She kept running, not really expecting to get away but hoping to at least lessen the effect of the attack by increasing the distance. Her legs screaming in agony, her entire right arm loosing sensation from the loss of blood—what was there to do?

The attack hit her square in the back, knocking her into the air but she never hit the ground. Instead she was falling off the side of a cliff, heading straight for a river twenty feet below her. She knew it would hurt, she knew there was a chance she wasn't going to make it but she had to keep trying. With what was left of her energy and physical ability, she straightened herself out so that her feet would hit the water first. The cold water rushing over her burns and the impact of the water was enough of a jolt to give her another kick of adrenaline.

She kicked against the current, trying to grab one of the tree roots that poked out from the dirt cliff, failing each time she tried. Water was rushing into her mouth and nose, she coughed and more would go in. She would bob under the water and come back up, gasping for air… there was no safety in the water. Again she went under, swirling around with the current, hitting the large boulder that were hidden from the surface and though she tried to get back up it was all in vein.

With no more oxygen to breath and no way to tell which way was up she gave into the current. She gave in to the hopelessness she had been feeling once they had found her and she closed her eyes. At least if she drowned team Galactic still would find her. He body would be torn to bits by the rapids and a Garados would probably eat the chum her body made. A gross thought, but valid. At with her body would go their software. No more software, no more machine. No more machine, no more end of civilization as everyone knew it.

Before she could black out completely she felt something catch her collar and yank her from the cold depths of the water and drag her onto a damp patch of grass. Through her blurred and unsteadied vision she could make out the silhouette of a man hovering over her. He was speaking to her but her ears were so full of water she couldn't understand him. Maybe he was part of team Galactic minus the weird hairdo.

It didn't matter, she wasn't conscious long enough to hear that he was going to help her.