A/N:
You'll notice that this one is more drama than humour - because I got slowly sucked into the eeriness of the environment I described. Which I very enjoyed doing, mind. Hope you'll do, too - and with that having been said (must have been my shortest Author's Note till date) enjoy your read!
Disclaimer: Pokémon is not mine.
Swamp
The water was slimy and green, air-bubbles slowly appearing on the surface. An odour of decayed plants and long-gone other materials rose from within, wafting their way and filling the air. Instead of getting less bad, the stench intensified in time. Blue held her hand for her mouth and barely prevented herself from retching.
"Why are we here again?" she managed to say in a difficult voice.
"To research the natural environment," Green responded in a flat tone. "Like I've told you a million times before."
"Yes, but – why do you have to take me along?"
The boy in front of her stopped in his tracks and turned around. Blue barely prevented herself from bumping into him and falling in the brownish puddle next to her. "Weren't you the one who complained that we didn't spend enough time with each other?"
"Eh – yes. But when you said we were going to do something together today, I was more thinking of a romantic dinner or a trip to the beach or – "
She stopped when she saw that Green had already walked on, not paying any attention to her words. With an indignant expression she followed in a hurry, taking care not to step into the treacherous waters.
"Meanie!" she called out; again, to no avail. Green had directed all his attention to a particularly soggy and unwelcome spot, squatting down and taking some gear out of his bag to examine the place further. While he tested the degree of humidity, acidity, and a long list of other characterizations (while he could be paying attention to his girlfriend, Blue thought with a trace of venom), she took in her surroundings.
There really was nothing to do here: she didn't even see any Pokémon. (They had clearly more brains in their head than they had, she thought with a hollow laugh. How Green had landed on the idea to take her to a marsh of all places; Blue did not know.)
With a doubtful eye, she scanned the area around her for a place to sit, settling in the end for a fairly clean stone. While heaving a sigh, she sat down. The greenish fluid that was currently sticking itself to her skirt was just to be ignored, she told herself in a very brave attempt at optimistic thinking.
Despite her best effort of making the most out of the situation, though, the minutes crawled by in an exasperatingly slow tempo. She swore that the soggy water of the marsh had some kind of strange influence on the time; it went so much slower than usual that she sometimes wondered if it did pass at all. Soon, all possible ways to entertain herself were exhausted (from mind-games to counting the times the puddle next to her burbled in an ominous way.) Even looking at Green became somewhat boring after awhile – however handsome he might be, the surrounding didn't do that much good to the overall picture; not to mention that the constant repeating of the same dull actions (taking water in a test-tube; sticking a meter in it; scribbling notes) wasn't exactly that exciting to watch.
When her tenth try of getting his attention had failed once again, she decided that enough was enough. If he thought that he could drag her to a place deserted by every living being, without any questions being asked – well, he'd better think again. Had he brought her here for the purpose of unhindered snogging, she would have been at least a bit understanding. And she wouldn't have complained (much) – though why it would have to be a bog, of all places, especially when there were so many perfectly deserted and dry forests to be chosen from, would still be a mystery to her. But really, this act of down-right ignoring her; she had it up to there with him. She needed her daily dose of attention, it was as simple as that.
With a huff, she came to her feet. They didn't say for nothing that you didn't see a good thing until it was gone. Well, once Green would have realised that she wasn't sitting behind him anymore (she wasn't very fond of thinking about how long that would take) she would be already back in Pallet Town, taking an extra-perfumed bath.
She tossed her hair back in a haughty gesture and started walking the way they had come from. One quick look sideways crushed all her secret hope of being noticed; Green was still all eyes for the murky substance in front of him. She sighed deeply.
Sometimes, life could be very hard.
Green squinted his eyes, looking at the test-tube in front of him. The density of this extract seemed to be higher than the previous one… He reached behind him for his notebook and took out his pen. In a neat, scribbled handwriting, he added the facts to the already listed numbers.
What did it mean? Had it something to do with the fact that he hadn't seen any Pokémon around these parts? He sighed, thoughtfully tracing a finger along his chin. Further examination was needed. It just was too quiet here to be normal, as though there was no-one here but him... it was almost eerie. He sat silent for a while, looking at the notebook on his knee.
– wait a second. It really was too silent here.
With a start, he turned around. His eyes widened ever so slightly when they registered nothing but a few blunted willows, a variation of muddy puddles and a bare rock.
A bare rock.
He rose to his feet, quickly gathered his tools and tossed his bag over his shoulder. Where had Blue gone off to? Was this some kind of joke, to get him worried? An overly-dramatic way to show him that she wasn't contented with their spent afternoon? He clenched his teeth, worry filtering through the annoyed expression on his face. Blue wasn't familiar with this marsh; she wasn't even aware of the dangers it brought with itself. He ran a hand through his hair, closing his eyes. Staying calm and coming up with the fastest way to find her now were his priorities; nothing was gained by what-ifs. He pushed all thoughts of treacherous waters, quicksand and ensnaring plants to the back of his mind, and then opened his eyes again. The best way to look for something in a vast territory like this was from above. He reached for his Pokéballs and wordlessly called out Charizard. Due to the soggy ground, the Pokémon's feet almost immediately sank away in the soft substance, causing it to flap its wings to levitate itself.
"I need you to fly me across the swamp, Charizard," Green urged his companion, talking faster than usual.
The dragon-like Pokémon lowered itself enough for Green to jump on it, then took off with a rush of its outstretched wings. Green felt the cold air smack in his face, the dampness of the bog not reaching the higher regions of the sky. From above, the swamp looked like one giant painting, made with thick brushes of green and brown; the colours overlapped and melted into each other, occasionally drifting apart like oil on water. Very rarely, there was a small tree situated at the swamp's edge, letting its long roots sink into the marshy ground. A weeping willow dipped its thin branches into the water, being surrounded by nothing but empty lands. From the sky it looked like a small mishap into an otherwise perfect creation of fluid brushes.
Then, he saw something out of the ordinary – a small dot, right beneath him. A hand seemed to wave his side; a dim shout reached his ears. With a fast movement of his knees, he ordered Charizard to descend. As air flashed by, the figure underneath him became bigger and bigger, until Blue could be discerned clearly. She looked at him with huge eyes, terror written on her face.
"Blue, grab my hand!"
Green's voice was calm and steady, but the urgency with which he spoke tore his cool demeanour apart. Flailing her limbs desperately, the girl tried to reach out for him. But while her arms extended as far as they could, another sensation took over. Blue could feel herself being dragged further into the swamp: the murky waters beneath her pulled on her feet, inexorably trying to take her to the depths of the bog. Her limbs slowly grew numb as claws of coldness closed around her legs.
"Green!"
Her shriek cleft the air and scattered itself across the endless sheet of water, face torn with mortal fear. The man flew closer to her, leaning his stomach flat on the dragon-Pokémon, and extended his right arm.
Dreadful seconds passed, in which Blue felt the claws close around her neck, coldness threatening to take over. Her head fell backwards, pulled by invisible forces. She tried desperately to keep herself above the water, taking large gulping breaths, her outstretched arm shaking as a slowly sinking mast. Green's arm seemed so, so far away; they wouldn't make it in time… everything went black… plants and water engulfed her body, an odour of decay penetrating her nostrils… her blood froze, ice filling her heart…
–
And then, a hand closed around her wrist. A strong force pulled her up, out of the waters; a second arm wrapped itself around her back, hoisting her further up from under her elbows. The slickness of the marsh glided past her body as she was dragged out of it, landing on a broad, leather-feeling back. She drew heavy, deep breaths, shaking uncontrollably. As Green rapidly began rubbing her skin in order to fight the undercooling, Blue's surroundings slowly took on their shape. Green's face hovered above hers, looking at the place where his hands were massaging her limbs. Through the blur she could see a mixture of fear, anger and relief; painted in colours more expressive than ever before. She closed her eyes again, feeling empty and drained.
After a few moments his hands left her body, to be replaced by a new, soft warmth. Without opening her lids she knew it was Green's shirt, which he had taken off.
"We have to get back to Pallet, Blue," she heard him say, as from a distance. "If you stay here any longer you'll get really undercooled. I could hold the worst off for now, but who knows for how long."
"Nng.." She opened one eye, looking shakily up at him. The intensity of his gaze almost scared her; most of the anger and fear had gone away, but it was replaced by something she couldn't completely place. He extended an arm to help her to get back up again, letting his hand rest on her shoulders. His gaze was still on hers, as if attempting to look through her. She was almost scared to look up at him, for fear of getting too much emotion in her weakened body. Finally, she did lift her chin and fixed her eyes on him. "Thanks for getting me out of the water, Green…"
Her voice was weak and trembling; but his expression did not waver.
"You shouldn't have run off on your own, Blue."
Her eyes widened. "I – I didn't know…"
"Stupid girl, it's a swamp! You have quicksand here and all kinds of other dangerous elements. One wrong step, and you're gone!" He was almost shaking her, and through her tiredness Blue realised Green was outing his bottled-up worry.
"I'm s-so sorry…I didn't mean for it to happen; I was taken by surprise. One moment I was just walking on the side, and then suddenly I got off the firm ground and I didn't know anymore where I was. It was like it all happened in a movie, as if it was not real. I couldn't do anything, not even reach for my Pokéballs. I could just shout…"
She trembled as the events were played off in her head again, and the cold hard truth opened to her in an unyielding way: what would have happened if Green had been only a few seconds too late? A tear trickled slowly out of the corner of her eye, gliding along the side of her nose, down her cheek. She held her gaze at her knees, feared by what she might see on Green's face. But as she drew shakily a breath, trying to control herself, she felt a hand place itself on the back of her head. When she cast a glance upwards, she saw Green look at her with an unreadable expression; then, he leaned forward and kissed her on the mouth.
Blue sucked in a breath as she felt his lips brush hers, both surprise and happiness taking over. If it was anyone but Green, she would have described the kiss as tender – but then again, this swamp could do strange things with people. Perhaps it was a caring gesture. He held his mouth for a few seconds there, lips only so slightly parted. Then, he let go and leaned back.
"You should be seated on the front when we fly, it can't be trusted to let you sit behind me." His expression was still as unreadable as before. Blue nodded silently, taking his hand and climbing shakily to the forefront of Charizard's back.
"Don't you need your shirt…?"
"No, you keep it. Pull it over your own clothes." After a bit of bungling she managed to do as he said, and felt the silkiness of his shirt brush her skin. It almost made her smile. "Are you seated firmly?"
She nodded, and Green leaned forward to extend his arms around Charizard's neck. With a nudge of his knees, he ordered the Pokémon to take off; without hesitation, it obeyed, flapping its wings and ascending into the sky.
Blue rested her head on Charizard's broad neck, looking down at the marsh below them. From above, the plant remains and the slowly bubbling-up air couldn't be discerned. It just was a giant mass of cloudy water, a landscape of blunted colours. Still, memories of ice-cold claws and the stench of long-gone materials provoked her mind. Her body shook slightly, and she closed her eyes, shutting the bog out. She was afraid that if she'd stare at the marsh for too long, she would give in to its ogling call and let herself slip off Charizard's back.
With more vigour, she pushed herself closer to the Pokémon's warm body, wrapping her arms tighter around its neck. She could feel Green behind her, and his reassuring grip and warmth brought her back to herself. She was safe now; with him next to her, she knew she was.
She moved her hand a bit, searching his. He responded without words, closing his fingers in a steady grip around her palm. And as the swamp flashed by underneath them, unseen by her eyes, a small smile cautiously painted itself on her countenance.
Happiness was something that could be found even in the most difficult of times, she knew; it was just a question of finding the lights in an otherwise ink-black sea. And if you had the right person behind you, nothing was impossible.