I ran my heart out that night, and even then I kept running. I could care less about my screaming muscles and my tired body-- I just wanted to put all of the lies behind trees loomed over the path, waving a final goodbye to me as I sprinted. I forced myself to keep running on this seemingly endless road until the ocean began. My body protested as I launched myself into the water and swam. I swam like I ran, with only thoughts of leaving my unforgiving past behind. I didn't know where I was, but I knew I was crazy as hell to be doing this in the dead of night.

I wasn't sure how much time had passed before I hauled myself onto land again, stumbling onward past buildings and trees, the weight of my drenched clothes and bag slowing me down. My legs ached and my head throbbed, and I finally stopped, leaning against a house and taking deep shuddering breaths. My chest was heaving with the effort of catching my breath and a major headache suddenly slammed down on me. I welcomed the pain, glad I had finally escaped from Johto.

Consciousness was extremely difficult to hold onto now, and I gave up the fight, sliding down the side of the house and thudding onto the damp earth as the last of it slipped through my fingers.

------------

Where was I?

I was conscious, I knew, but I couldn't find the strength to open my eyes. My legs ached, my head still throbbed. I felt horrible.

Well, this is what I get for running like that. I moaned.

"Oh, damn, what the hell?" someone murmured. I blinked and caught a brief glimpse of a man in front of me, then my eyes closed again. I felt bangs being brushed from my face. "Holy shit, you got it hard, didn't you?"

My throat was so dry it burned. I moaned again and managed a raspy "Help..."

I felt arms around my back, adding to the dull pain in my spine. What felt like another body was against one side of me and a smell stung at my sore nose. More noise hit my ears along with air brushing against my cheek. I sighed with relief, embracing the feeling of a breeze reducing the heat coursing through my veins.

The man set me down on the couch. murmuring something I didn't catch.

I must have dozed off again, because the man gently shook my shoulders. "Hey, are you okay?" When I let out a raspy moan, he shook me again and said, "Hey, wake up."

The door opened, and warm air blew into the room, bringing the scents of the sea with it. "Ooh, Steven Stone, you--" a voice teased.

"Can it, Wallace," he interrupted. "This isn't a time for jokes."

My eyes snapped open. "Raikou on a bike, you're Steven Stone!" I choked out.

He whirled around, surprised that I had woken up. Steven stared at me for a moment and exclaimed, "Holy fuck, Marissa Hayes?! How did you get in Hoenn?!"

"I was running..." I saw vague flashes of imagery in front of me. "And then swimming..." It was cold... oh, so cold... "I came to Hoenn?!" Feeling overwhelmed that I'd travelled so far, my vision began to mist over and swing sideways. I gripped my head in my hands, trying not to lose control of consciousness again. As I squeezed my eyes shut, the flashback came: the pain, the emptiness, and a brief review of exactly what Lance had done to me. One scene lingered behind my eyelids, the most frightening part. His golden eyes, burning with an intensifying lust as he forced me under him. And then...

Then I screamed. Shrieked, more like it.

"Damn, you're freaking out!" Steven exclaimed, grasping my hands. When I looked at him, he gasped at the fear and pain in my eyes.

Wallace was beside him now, staring into my eyes. His face was printed with worry as his turquoise eyes tried to read mine. I pulled my hands from Steven's and dug my nails into the couch, trying to get rid of the scene that was frozen in my mind. They both stared at me, eyes wide with confusion and worry.

I gazed back at them, still overwhelmed at where I was. Hoenn. Wallace broke the tense silence and gently asked, "Marissa, what happened to you?"

I averted his calm gaze and turned my head, closing my eyes again.

He comfortingly draped his hand over mine, and I flinched slightly at the contact, unsure about trusting him with what really happened. "I-- I can't say..."

"Alright, it's fine." Wallace slowly removed his hand from mine and said to Steven, "I need to go, Steven, I promised Juan I'd be back quickly." He stood-- damn, he was tall-- and turned to walk out. Steven met him by the door and they exchanged a friendly goodbye, then the door closed softly behind him.

"Who was that? All I got was his name," I told Steven.

"Oh, that was Wallace, he's away a lot at Sootopolis..." Steven was still eyeing me as though I was going to jump up and throw something out the window. I didn't blame him. After that scream...

I clipped my Pokeballs to my belt and stood up. Almost immediately, Espeon materialized from one of them, looking around at the different settings. She tipped her head to one side and mewed at me. I could see the question in her eyes: What is this place?

I leaned down to scratch behind her ears, where she liked it. "We're in Mossdeep City, in Hoenn, Espeon."

She gave me a confused look and padded to the window, placing her front paws on the sill and eyeing the landscape outside.

"That's your Espeon, huh?" Steven murmured, a little akwardly. I turned my head to look at him, trying not to scrutinize him. His face was creased a little.

"Yeah, that's her..." The air seemed to have gained weight, and I knew it was becoming uncontrollably awkward between us... why, I didn't know. I threw a glance out of the window at the weather, which was bright and welcoming. I decided that I'd rather be out there than in here, sandwiched in this tension.

I called Espeon to my side and headed for the door, wanting to get out. Steven stopped me as my fingers touched the door handle.

"Uh, Marissa... where are you going?"

I looked at him again. "Outside, for a walk."

"Are you sure?" Steven inquired. "I mean, after you just spent a whole night running and swimming, your bag is ruined, your clothes are soggy, and you don't want to shower or something? Or change?"

I looked down at my clothes, which were still soggy and clung to my body. Hell, my mascara was probably running halfway down my face.

"Now that I think about it... sure," I answered. Steven disappeared upstairs, returned a few minutes later with a neatly folded bundle, and handed it to me.

"Those are the smallest I have. The bathroom's upstairs to the left."

I nodded and grabbed my bag, which, like my clothes, was drenched and heavy. It left a puddle on the floor.

I walked as quickly as I could up the stairs, Espeon close behind. I entered the bathroom, which was pretty bare, suggesting Steven was away a lot. The only thing in there that wasn't white was the shower rug, which was a very plain stone grey.

I told Espeon to wait there, closed the door, and dared to look in the mirror.

I looked like hell, I swear. Or a vampire, for the least part-- my makeup was smudged in every which way, my hair was knotted and out of place. My favorite shirt, pink with Eevee pawprints across the chest, was ruined by the water. And I could see through it. Just the thought of Wallace and Steven seeing that made my face flush. But, by luck, maybe they weren't paying attention..?

I pulled off my clothes and slipped into the ones Steven gave me-- a plain blue shirt and shorts, which were only a little bit too big. I rolled the sleeves up and reached for my bag, peering inside to see the damage the ocean had done.

Everything was wet, ruined, except for my makeup and money, which I had been smart enough to put in a seperate bag. Damn, I even forgot to pack more clothes. Was that smart or not, seeing as I swam?

I proceeded to dump everything in the main pocket, all the papers and such, and my journal, which I randomly wrote and drew in. I pulled the garbage can over and tipped my bag upside down.

I checked the other pockets-- the berries I had were all pruned (so I threw those out), the balls were okay, and all the TMs and HMs I had were, luckily, not ruined.

I had to go shopping.

I went to walk out when I remembered my blackened face. I bent over the sink and furiously scrubbed at the smudges, not satisfied until it was gone, which took a lot of scrubbing. I decided not to wear makeup, for once, and began to work out the knots in my hair, I walked out and was joined by Espeon at the foot of the stairs.

As I headed toward the door with Espeon at my heels, I told Steven I was going for a walk now.

"Alright," he replied.

I decided to walk out onto the shoal and cool off my feet, which had been crammed in my shoes (they were also soggy and ruined).

"Yeah, I really need to go shopping," I mumbled to myself, looking down at the ground as I headed south. The sights of Mossdeep were intriguing: The shoals, the interesting trees that probably weren't found anywhere in Johto, and a huge building to the east. I would have to ask Steven what it was.

People milled about, walking with their children and Pokemon that I had never seen before.

I recieved quite a few stares and whispers as I made my way to the southern part of the island. I felt uncomfortable as their stares bored into my back as I reached the shoal. I bent down and slipped off my shoes, walking out onto the shoal. The cool waves washed over my feet, cleaning them of the dirt and washing off the last of my toenail polish. That was something I would have to do, also. I shuffled around, eyeing the Blackbelt trainers and their muscular Machokes.

As I walked, I thought. About nothing in particular, just everything that had happened.

I turned in the direction of a sparkly seaside rock, seeing if it would contain any valuable items to sell so I could replace my things when a sudden squeaking noise caught my attention. Espeon's tail twitched. I snapped up, my eyes flickering this way and that, trying to figure out where it had come from. Then I heard it again, the tiny, pitiful mewling sound, coming from a thorn bush up by a tree, off of the shoal.

I slowly made my way toward it, not wanting to startle whatever was waiting inside there. It squeaked again, this time a little more desperately, and the bush shook. I reached out and pushed away some leaves.

There was the tiniest, most malnourished baby Vulpix I had ever seen in my life. She was crouched low to the ground, her paws caught in thorns and belly caked with wet dirt. She was trembling uncontrollably, staring up at me with wide, frightened amber eyes.

I was speechless.

Espeon poked her nose into the bush and sniffed the baby, who cringed in fear. She squeaked and tried to pull away, yelping when the thorns around her paws held her in place like shackels. Very carefully, I reached down and grasped one thick vine. The Vulpix again tried to escape. I pulled back. This wouldn't work; if I tried she would hurt herself even farther, if I set her free, she would dash off and most likely get into another mess. I straightened up. "Espeon, watch her please, I need to go get Steven."

I ran to the house and shoved the door open. "Steven!" I called. The champion appeared by the stairs, meeting me by the door.

"Marissa! What happened?"

I grabbed his arm and said, "Come here and I'll show you! Hurry!" I dragged the slightly resistant Steven Stone over to the bush, slowing so I didn't frighten the Vulpix more than she was already. I pushed the leaves away again and revealed her to Steven.

His experience kicked in. "Hold her, Marissa. I'll try to get the vines off of her paws."

I reached for her, and she shied as far as the vines would allow. My hands closed around her tiny chest, bringing her upwards a little. She struggled to get away as Steven carefully unwound the tight thorn vines from her paws. Her resistance dimmed as the last vine was pulled from her fur. I hugged her to my chest and she let out another squeak of surprise.

"It's okay, baby... you're fine, it's alright..." I soothed, stroking her back. The baby Vulpix calmed slowly, and after a few minutes of soft murmuring, she was still in my arms. I examined her paws, seeing the deep cuts just above her pawpads.

"You need some healing," I told her, straightening up. I spotted the Pokemon Centre's red roof and headed for it. Espeon followed while Steven stayed, gazing at my back. I turned my head. "You coming?"

Steven shook his head. "I have... things to do at home, I barely have any time there. You go, see you when you get back." The air thickened, so I began to walk again. I had no clue what was going to unravel in front of me next. Hopefully it wasn't going to be another malnourished baby Pokemon.

-- chapter end --