Intro: Step by Step.
"One, two, three, four, fi-"
A crash of thunder echoed through the night's sky, interrupting the young girl's counting. "I guess that means it's four-and-a-half miles away, huh little guy?" She smiled down at the only creature—likely within miles—who could respond.
A quiet squeak was all it could manage as it looked up at her expectantly. The girl's lips curled down as she looked ahead once again. Her heels kicked up sand as she pushed ahead, trying to pick up her pace. She tried to ignore the pangs of hunger and focus on reaching her destination. She had to be getting close, she just had to be.
"Leave it alone! It doesn't deserve that!"
Without hesitation the girl made her way up a dune as more thunder sounded in the distance.
"What the hell do you know you little brat!?"
The wind began to stir once again, kicking up the loose sand into a frenzy; aggravating the girl's many cuts and bruises as the sand whipped against them. The girl pushed back a long lock of dark brown hair behind her as she clutched the pokemon tighter in her arms.
"You're nothing more than an overgrown bully, treating a hurt pokemon like that! You should be ashamed!"
She reached the top of the hill and gasped.
Lights.
After hours of walking along the dirt trail in darkness, an end was finally in sight.
The wind began to whip again, throwing dirt into the girl's only good eye. She instinctively reached up to rub it, almost dropping the small creature in her arms. She moved as fast as she could to correct it, reaching out quickly to catch the poor thing, only to stumble forward as she caught him.
One accidental step forward, followed by another; then a third. Before she knew it, she was tumbling face first down the sandy hill; the small pokemon in hand tumbling with her.
She landed at the bottom with a hard thud. Tears quickly came as the sting of the sand in her eyes made itself known. She coughed and spit in a desperate attempt to get the salty substance out of her mouth and throat.
She spun over to her knees as her coughing gave way into dry heaves; her body trying desperately trying to rid itself of all the coarse sand that she had swallowed. Each heave became stronger than the last, aggravating the already tender bruises now covering her body.
"We'll teach a brat like you to talk out of place."
"With the last powerful heave a wave of bile was pushed out of her stomach and onto the ground. Dazed, she sat there for a moment trying to calm herself with deep breaths. And though she did begin to regain her senses, the sandy air brought on a new wave of discomfort to her raw throat. But as her senses returned, so did a wave of hopelessness. Tears that had come to clean her eyes gave way to tears of frustration. Loud sobs escaped her throat and caused the girl to start shaking.
"You really think it's worth a damn? Fine, take it!"
A wheeze rang in her ear. Not because it was particularly loud, but simply because it hadn't come from her. She glanced down at the pokemon again, disheartened to see it was doing as badly as herself. Its fur was caked in dirt, its eyes were tearing up from the sand, and it could hardly breathe through its haggard coughing.
"Worthless pieces of trash like you deserve each other."
With a sniff and a deep breath, the girl slipped off her tattered half-jacket and wrapped it around the creature. She adjusted it so the small hood covered the top of the monster's head; covering its ears, eyes, and nose while still allowing it to breath.
Ignoring the new stings from the wind hitting her newly exposed arms the girl wiped her eyes dry. She pushed down her tears and forced herself to her feet. And despite a shaky few first steps she steadily began towards the lights once again.
A flash of lightning pieced through the darkness from behind the girl. She didn't bother counting this time. The sight being more than enough to tell her how dangerously close the desert storm was getting.
"I'll get you there before it reaches us" the girl assured the pokemon in a whisper, her throat hoarse. "I'll get you help."
She wasn't sure how long it took her to stumble into the oasis town, or how much longer she spent actually looking for the Pokemon Center—the only one in the region. She didn't even register that the only lights on in the city were those of the street lamps. All she could do was focus single-mindedly on her goal; doing her best to ignore the throbbing in her leg that had left her limping in the meantime. The only thing that mattered was getting him help.
And suddenly, there it was, sitting near the center of town.
She felt her heartbeat in her throat as she closed the last gap. It wasn't until she stumbled up to the doorway that she noticed all the lights were off inside the building.
Her elation gave way to dread when the automatic doors refused to open for her. She pressed all her weight up against them, desperately trying to open them somehow. A hardly audible plea escaped her throat.
"Please…"
Her will began to fade and her knees collapsed underneath her.
"Please…"
She looked down at the small creature in her lap. He had stopped coughing awhile ago; in fact, she could hardly feel it breathing at all. With a motion the hood was pulled back to reveal the motionless pokemon. With a shaky hand the girl pat its head.
"… little guy…?"
Brown eyes opened up to look at her, but his glazed expression no longer seemed to expect anything.
"Please hang on…"
His eyes fell closed in response.
Burning tears came to the girl's eyes as she turned up to the doors again. With renewed vigor she began to pound her small fists on the door.
She was out of time.
"Please-!" she tried to shout—only for it to come out a hoarse whisper. She knew that the pokemon couldn't last the night. And if it didn't, she wasn't sure she could either.
"Please-!" she tried to call again, only for her voice to croak out another whisper.
Someone had to come. Someone had to save him. Someone had to save them both.
"Please-!" Another attempted shout—another squeak in its place.
Desperation overtook her. Without a real though, she inhaled sharply until it felt like her lungs would pop.
She screamed.
The hoarse, shrill noise hardly sounded human. It pierced the night's air, echoing out despite the volume of the howling winds. And as though to give her more volume, a roar of thunder resounded as lighting brightened the sky.
Her throat burned, her shakes returned, and her fists were going numb from the pounding. But as soon as her breath ran out, she inhaled sharply and began again. She began to beat her fists in unison as tears poured down her face and onto the pokemon.
She had to save him. She had to.
After all, if she couldn't save him from falling into the darkness, how could she hope to save herself?
Light pierced through her eyelids, but she didn't stop her wail. She couldn't yet. It wasn't until the doors parted that she allowed her wail to die down.
"What in hell's name is going on out here!?" the angry blonde nurse nearly screamed as she looked down at the kneeling child. "Do you have any idea-"
"Please!" the girl screamed as she held up the battered pokemon up to the nurse. "Please help him!" The nurse reached down to take the pokemon, only to pause as lighting flashed once again, illuminating the pair.
A girl no older than seven wearing clothes that were tattered beyond repair; a large (and possibly infected) gash on her cheek, and a bruised eye that was swollen shut—holding a pokemon that looked no better.
The nurse kneeled down and placed her hand on the girl's shoulder. "What in the world happened to you?"
"Please…" Her whole body shaking, the child once again tried to push the pokemon into the nurse's arms as she sobbed. "Please… Don't let him die…"
The nurse gently scooped up the pokemon into her arms. But before she asked anything else, the girl's eyes rolled back and shut before her body hit the ground, unconscious.
AN: Reviews always help motivate me to work on a story, so please leave a word or two if you want to see faster updates!