Pokémon Crimson

Chapter 25: Buddy System

(Beth Larson)

By the time Beth had brought back the rest of the group on Starmie the ones who had gone first seemed better off and ready to move on. "Gonna scout ahead then, yes?" Beth asked, waiting for Victoria or Blake to protest.

"Yeah," Blake said, sighing. "Don't suppose you'll let me come with you?"

Beth frowned. "Do you… want to?"

He gave her a weird look. "If I didn't want to I don't think I'd have asked."

Beth made the mistake of glancing past Blake to Zahlia, and Blake threw his hands in the air. "Oh don't look at her like you need permission! No." He dove into the water beside Beth and Starmie and resurfaced, whipping his black hair back away from his face in one motion. "Buddy system," he grumbled. "And Starmie's doing all the work so it doesn't matter if we get tired."

"Buddy system!" Beth said cheerily, demanding knuckles from him again. Blake asked her in a sullen tone if she did respect knuckles for everything, or if he was just special, and then they were off.

The Staryu line picked up again not far off from where their original trail had lead them, and Beth and Blake developed and employed very quickly a form of communication based on gestures to determine which way they should go. It seemed at first that the Staryu trail split off at a fork, but they quickly discovered that fork ended in a tapered spiral and headed back to take the longer route. Beth was just starting to feel the edges of worry, calculating how soon they'd have to turn back if they didn't find a place to surface when the Staryu trail swooped up and away.

This time Blake didn't sigh upon surfacing in the new cave. He sputtered and coughed just as badly as Beth did, and they both clung to Starmie, whose gem was glowing in an anxious way. Beth rubbed it down, panting, and muttered, "s'all good."

"That," Blake said through coughs, "is why I wanted to employ the buddy system."

"What, so we can drown together?" Beth joked, nudging him in the arm with her wrist. "Let's head back, soon as we can."

Victoria and Zahlia were both looking anxious when they returned. "There's got to be a better way to do this," Victoria said, rubbing her face so hard it looked truly painful.

"Isn't," Blake said, giving a great, phlegmy cough. "Uck, gross. But yeah. This is the best we've got. We found a new spot."

It was impossible to tell how long they were at it. Beth knew she should be the most tired by the time they had moved the group to five new caves, but the others were looking, if possible, even more worn out. Gav had taken to staying in the water as getting in and out was taking its toll on his leg, and even their fittest members were looking dead-eyed and slouched. It wasn't even that the travel was particularly grueling—Starmie really did take all the work out of it.

It was just that they had no idea when it would end.

"Time is it?" Kaylee asked Blake at their sixth location, shoving her backpack up onto the new ledge and deciding against hoisting herself up along with it. Instead she just lowered her head against the rocks and sat there, resting.

"1:45," Blake replied, not even checking his watch, which meant he'd been compulsively time-checking enough to know.

Kaylee paused, then lifted her head to stare wearily at him over her arm. "AM or PM?"

Blake frowned as if the answer was obvious, opened his mouth to reply… then said, "fuck if I know."

Gina gave out a sharp, short laugh and collapsed forward in a soggy heap on the rocks. "So we're either making really good time or it is really, really late at night and we need to sleep."

"How can we not know if we've been traveling all day?" Victoria asked, rhetorically, but a deep sigh from Kaylee cut her off.

"Anyone been keeping track of the days? Cause I sure haven't. I have no idea how many it's been."

The others looked at Blake, wearing various expressions on the sliding scale between weary and utterly defeated, and Blake glanced around at each of them before sighing and swimming over to the ledge. He pulled himself up and out with a small rush of water and walked on wobbly legs over to his bag. A second later he had extracted a pen from inside its double-bagged compartment and turned to face them, displaying it like it was a magic wand. Then he turned the white collar of his shirt inside out and put a single tally mark on it.

"Okay. Starting now it has been one day since we started keeping track." He capped the pen, stuck it back in his bag, and lifted his eyebrows at them as if surprised. "See? It's only been a day, stop bitching."

Jason groaned at him but laughed, splashing some water his way. "That's not how time works!" he protested, and Blake dodged the water and retorted with, "Hey, who's the time guy here? Me. And I say it's been a day."

"Gawd," Kaylee said, shaking her head and kicking off the rocks to float on her back, but Beth saw she was wearing a weary smile in place of the defeated look she'd had before. Beth smiled over at Blake, who wasn't watching but was instead answering Gina's question about what he'd mark if he ran out of room on his collar. Beth felt a warm rush of fondness for him and tried to pinpoint the moment he'd become one of the forces holding them together and keeping them sane. She'd have to get him a spot beside her on the "glue" shelf for their dysfunctional group of discouraged friends.

"Well, okay," Gav said, finally lifting his chin from where he'd been resting it on his chest. He had both arms stretched out to either side of him against the ledge and looked for all the world like he was relaxing in a jacuzzi. "We have to figure out how much farther we're going to go before we…"

"Do not say 'camp down,'" Amaris half-warned half-pleaded. "This is not 'camping down.' There is literally one ledge to sit on here which is roughly the size of a twin bed."

"Yeah, I wouldn't really call this 'camp,'" Beth conceded. "Maybe we should move on and see if there's a bigger spot?"

There wasn't, however, a bigger spot. In fact, their next surfacing area didn't have a ledge at all.

"We gotta go back," Kaylee said, her voice tense.

"Let me just—just look ahead a little, see if there's a ledge in the next spot. Okay? That way we don't have to backtrack."

It was very telling how their group handled the next few stops. Those with a propensity to take a gamble emerged from strange places, though Beth had of course expected Jason to be one of those in the "let's keep trying! We're bound to find a ledge sometime!" camp. Strangely enough, Zahlia, Gina and Victoria were also in this camp, whereas Amaris, Blake, Kaylee and Gav wanted to double back before they got too far.

"Seriously, what other option do we have?" Blake insisted, face pulled into a perpetual scowl. "Take it in shifts to sleep on Starmie?"

"I can't believe we're taking it in shifts to sleep on Starmie," Kaylee deadpanned half an hour and three hops later.

"I feel like I'm gonna roll off," Gina mumbled from her position sandwiched between Kaylee and Zahlia.

"You're not gonna roll off, I am," Kaylee insisted, struggling to get comfortable. She ended up jabbing Gina with her elbow and there was a little scuffle for space. Beth was certain none of them would be able to sleep, being cold, wet, and cramped on top of her Pokémon's uneven surface, but she was proven quickly wrong as a narcoleptic sleep seemed to wash over Kaylee and Gina moments later. Zahlia couldn't seem to get comfortable, but insisted that it was doing her good to at least rest her eyes. Five minutes after she said this her hand dropped into the water and she didn't even move a muscle, proving that "rest her eyes" had turned into a full-on coma nap.

Beth smiled fondly at the three girls as the others floated along, holding onto smaller Water Pokémon like floatation devices.

"Next shift…" Beth whispered, so as not to wake the sleepers, "Blake, Victoria, Gav?"

"Yeah, no," Blake grumbled. "You're going to sleep on the next shift. I can't believe you aren't sleeping already."

"I'm—"

"Nope," Blake said simply, swimming away from her in the water-equivalent of dashing away from a conversation he didn't want to have. "You're taking my spot. Besides, I don't want to sleep next to the lovebirds."

Victoria raised an eyebrow at Beth and Beth sighed. "You're not on my side, are you?" she asked her sister.

"That would be a 'nope' from me as well," Victoria affirmed. "You've been swimming the most and I know—" she said, cutting off Beth's protest with a raised hand. "I know you're the strongest swimmer, but that also means you need to rest up the most, because you're working hardest."

"No it doesn't," Beth said, genuinely confused. "If you're a strong swimmer it means you don't work as hard to swim…"

"Shh," Victoria said, which was code for "I am using sister logic and will not be swayed." Beth rolled her eyes but glanced over at where Blake was fiddling with his watch, Goldeen drifting nearby.

"Fine," she said.

Beth jolted awake with a jarring, blinding fright to the sound of Zahlia screaming her brother's name.

She crashed off the side of Starmie and into the water, curling away at once and surfacing, heart racing. "What?" she cried, mouth full of water which was garbling her voice.

Zahlia was drenched as well, and looked like she was fresh up from a dive. Her wild eyes tore through the gloom and locked on Beth's face, and Beth felt her heart stop at how little color the elder Nakawa's face held right now.

"He went to—he's scouting ahead, I tried to—he didn't, Haunter's looking for—he hasn't come back!" Zahlia's face twisted into an expression of mingled rage and frustration for a second and Beth realized she was upset at her own inability to speak.

The enormous shape of Blastoise crashing down through the water drew Beth's gaze. She whistled to Starmie, who sank down into the water so Gav and Victoria could clamber off. Then Beth and her Pokémon tore through the lake, splitting off from Blastoise, to search. A second later Beth heard the dull, distant roar of Gyarados bellowing through the water and felt a small shape whizzing by her foot—Psyduck.

There's no light, Beth thought dismally, the first thing that popped into her mind. Other than the trail they'd come by, there were no Staryus to guide the way. Had Blake seen this and tried to find the path without light? Which direction could he possibly have gone in?

Beth pushed forward in a direction away from Blastoise and Psyduck, wanting to cover as much ground as possible. The shiver in her core from her sudden awakening and the horrible, all-encompassing fear she felt was something she couldn't afford, and Beth pushed on through it, demanding more and more distance from her body. Starmie, so in tune with its trainer, blocked her from going any farther once they had been down for five minutes, and Beth only struggled for a second before realizing it was right. She grasped Starmie and was towed through the water quickly, back the way they came.

When she resurfaced it was to the gut-wrenching sound of Zahlia sobbing. None of the other Water-types had emerged yet, each able to be submerged underwater far longer than a human. Gina had her arms locked around Zahlia, more to keep her still than for comfort, and as Zahlia's bereft, terrified eyes locked on Beth's face Beth sucked in a deep breath and dove back down with her Pokémon again.

Each time Beth had to resurface, empty-handed, it felt like another part of her was floating away in the waters, lost forever. The sounds Zahlia was making hurt her physically, the absence of one of her friends carving a path of stark terror right through her. When even Blastoise emerged to regroup Beth caught the wide-eyed, tight-lipped, white-faced expressions of many of her friends. The yawning ache of dread spread between them, unsurpassable and all-encompassing.

Beth dove back down with Starmie, though her own body was starting to protest now. The toxic mix of terror and shock was terrible for her, and it wasn't long before both she and her Pokémon realized she had to be towed along the rest of the way, clinging to Starmie while they searched.

Beth thought her eyes were acting up when a small flash of green flickered to life and was gone a second later from the corner of her eye. She whipped her head in that direction, but nothing was there. What she did see, however, was a change in the terrain she hadn't spotted before.

Tugging Starmie so it would bring her closer, Beth positioned her body and kicked off from her Pokémon, darting forward until she touched down on the craggy rocks below. A Shellder spotted her and jetted away to hide in a shallow crater as Beth scrambled over the walls. The surface was pocked, uneven—and as Beth ran her hands into and against the surface, tracing the indents, her fingers found dip after dip of five-pointed stars.

The young Staryu had been here—but they must have finished with this spot and moved on. Beth waved to Starmie, who rushed past her as Beth reached out and snagged hold of one of its limbs. It was hard to see in the dark, even by the periodic glow of Starmie's red gem, but Beth could spot it now that she was looking for it—the way the empty star-shaped spots began to curve, up and away. Then the flash of green caught her eyes again and she put on a burst of speed she didn't think she still had.

Blake's arms closed around her as she surfaced and he hauled her up and out of the water. Starmie, still pushing forward, rammed Beth forward and Blake and she fell back in a heap. Beth heaved and coughed, trying to catch her breath and still her swimming head, but her hands scrambled over Blake's body and face as if she wasn't sure he was real. When she could speak all she managed was, "WHAT THE—IS—"

"I'm a dumb fuck, I know. I'm sorry. Just—wanted to make your life easier, sort of blew up in my face—" Blake was babbling, and from her daze Beth could see he had his watch and a clump of green mineral lights clutched in one of his hands. He'd been using it to signal through the water. Beth stared into his face, astounded, and tried to make her own words work with her.

All she managed to get out was, "Blake!"

"I found the way out—it's right there—" He said, jabbing a finger at something she hadn't seen—a glowing trail of more of the mineral lights curving off into the distance—off towards the back of the cave Blake was sitting in, the first long stretch of solid ground they'd found all day.

Beth shook her head and grabbed his face so he would turn back to her. He was still rambling, alternately apologizing and making loose associations about the weirdest, most inane things—the colors of the lights, the way the temperature of the water had changed and that had been a tip-off for him, the fact that he'd been unclear and he had not found the way out of Victory Road but the way out of this "watery death trap part"—but Beth cut him off. "Stop, just stop, you're okay, I don't care!"

Blake had a few false starts, aborted sentences that he almost spoke, and then he lapsed very suddenly into silence. Beth just stared at him, still unable to believe he was alive and whole, and a second later he was kissing her.

It was a short, impulsive thing that stunned Beth into silence. A second later bright red spread out over Blake's pale face and he made an expression of equally alarmed confusion that matched precisely what she was feeling herself.

"It's the goddamn cave, I'm sorry," he said, backing up and staring hard at the ground. "I don't even like you. I mean, no offense, I like you, of course, just I didn't—don't—uh." Beth just blinked at him, not about to interrupt as she had nothing to say herself just yet. "I guess, uh, just thought I was gonna die for a while there, and well…"

Beth surged forward and swatted him on the head, a huge surge of relief coursing through her and bursting out as a loud, almost hysterical laugh. "You asshole! That's a terrible reason to kiss someone!"

"I think it's a pretty good reason!" Blake insisted, dodging another swat. "But I'm still sorry!"

Beth's laughter broke clear through the other end of the spectrum of emotion and hot tears tracked down her face even while she still grinned at Blake so wide that her cheeks hurt. "Let's go back," she sniffled heavily, now in the hiccuping stage. "Your sister is having a breakdown."

Zahlia utterly collapsed when she saw them return. She crashed into the water even as Blake surged forward to meet her, and the Nakawas crushed themselves together in a tight, trembling hug, Zahlia sobbing and gasping into the wet fabric at his shoulder.

"My God," Gina said, her voice cracking. "We thought you were—"

"Where the fuck—"

Beth was still beaming at Zahlia and Blake, who were deaf to the world as Blake muttered to his sister and she made unintelligible sounds back at him. She was shaking so hard the movement of her body was coursing through both of them. Beth raised her voice over the questions and exclamations, weariness and emotion making her tones scratchy.

"We found the way—he found the way out."

For a long time all that anyone could do was splash around, question Blake, talk about the way out, establish strict ground rules for traveling, and heave relieved sigh after relieved sigh. Beth sat back, watching it all, clinging to Starmie's side as she took in the scene, exhausted. Zahlia had finally released Blake but hovered near her brother protectively, looking small and young in her residual fear. Beth stared openly at Blake whenever he wasn't facing her, studying the back of his head or his profile as he grimaced at the scoldings and mutely nodded at the promises the others were squeezing from him to never do that again. Whenever he turned her way, though, she pretended to be resting or rubbing down Starmie.

Blake had immediately admitted that his sudden display had been sparked by a near-death experience and the impending mortality that Victory Road certainly seemed to bring out in all of them. Beth was honestly not sure what she would have done if it had been for any other reason. Blake knew she was dating Rei, and it didn't seem like there was anything more to what had happened than sheer impulse. This was what she told herself, anyway, and it almost helped.

Somewhere in her musings it occurred to Beth that she'd seen a Shellder down below. She wondered if it was still there, then swam over to where her bag was jammed between two rocks that were jutting out of the cave wall. After some fumbling she extracted a few spare Pokéballs and strapped them to her waist.

Victoria spotted this immediately, as her older sister always did. "What are you up to, now?" she asked. "Not enough excitement for you today?"

Beth felt heat rise to her face and wondered, for perhaps the first time in her life, if there was something she'd want to actually keep from Victoria. She just glanced over to her and smiled. "I saw a cute little Shellder down below… gonna see if I can coerce it to join me," she said, waving one of the Pokéballs at her.

Victoria looked dubious, but gave her a small, tired smile. "Well. Far be it from me to deny you a catch, what with you being the hero of the day and all."

"He was fine," Beth insisted, rolling her eyes but giving Victoria an affectionate bump with her head. "He's the one who found our way out of the…" she paused, then called over to Blake, "hey, what did you call this place, again?"

Blake answered her with absolutely no weirdness or hesitation, which made Beth feel better. "The watery death trap part."

Beth chuckled. "The watery death trap part," she repeated to Victoria, then slipped her goggles back up. "When you see me next I will be the owner of a Shellder," she promised, then took a deep breath and dove back down with Starmie.

Author's Note: In coming chapters the gang will be discussing former Champs. Do me a favor, those of you who are creatively inclined, and message me or review me if you are interested in submitting a design for a former Champ! No promises that he or she will make an in-person appearance in the story, but I do need some names and descriptions for previous Hall-of-Famers and I'd love to include some of the ideas from my readers. Hit me up!