Chapter 16 – To Nimbasa City

Train Heading to Nimbasa City

Light at the end of the tunnel, after five minutes of complete darkness the moons light shinned down below as the train went at high speeds on the tracks towards its destination; Nimbasa City. We would reach Nimbasa in three hours or less, so we used that time for us to catch some sleep before getting off and trying to find a place to fully rest up. We were going to need our strength for the road ahead if we wanted to reach Nuvema Town.

I had trouble sleeping long into the night, nervous that the guards were on the train with us ready to ambush us when we wake up or something like that, or Purrloin's gang would come after us. Turning to my right, I saw Aqua leaning her head on my chest as she lay there sleeping peacefully, not too long after the train had left the city. It had been tough for her these past few weeks, but we safe from Purrloin and her gangs reach.

With the boxcar door opened, I watched the outside of the train as it passed many trees moving so fast making everything blurry, until I turned my head up to look up at the stars.

"I wonder if anyone else is out there." I thought, wandering if there was any point to travelling all the way to Nuvema Town, if I still had friends and or family searching for me, waiting for me to come home. I lightly touched my eye patch, slightly rubbing it a little after feeling my left eye itch. I lifted the eye patch up off my left eye and opened it up… but I would never see anything again through my left eye. "I wish I did have a left eye, and then I wouldn't keep on having to turn my head to the left just to get a look outside the train… at least the fresh air is nice." My scars had healed up nicely, no longer hurting as much as they did a week ago. A Dewott covered in scars from head to toe. Scars with each a story to tell, but not a story I could recall, my memory was still gone.

"You're still awake." She said groggily as she woke up. "How long was I asleep for?"

"An hour I think."

"An hour?" She groaned, while wiping the sleep from her eyes. "I'm still exhausted… maybe after we got off the train soon, we find a place to sleep in? Maybe a little quieter and less shakiness involved?"

I chuckled. "I'm sure we'll find somewhere to sleep after the train stops. Maybe that book could help us find somewhere good?" I opened the flaps of the bag and took the book out and handed it to Aqua, flicking the pages until she reached the N section of the book.

In the book we saw the page 'Nimbasa City' with all of the buildings and sights the city had to offer. There was a theme park with a lot of attractions in it from the looks of it; rollercoaster's, a huge Ferris wheel, a haunted house, and so much more. In the city section were a baseball stadium, a dance theater, and a lot of bright buildings. A little flashy than the darkness Castelia City was almost engulfed in, but a brighter one nonetheless. "The train will make a stop here at the station near the southern part of the city." Aqua pointed at the station on the map of the city, trailing her paw to some of the nearby locations we could use as a place to rest up for when we get off. "There's a small park just outside the train station, tall bushes and flowers surrounded by a railing no one can enter, so maybe that'll be okay for us. it'll be out in the open, maybe cold… maybe that'll be a backup if we can't find anywhere else good for the night. Or how about we find a place in one of the back alleys near the cafes and restaurants in the center of the city? Or do you think we have had our share of alleys once in a lifetime?"

"Somewhere indoors would be nice." I said glancing at the map for any location near the train station we could stay at until the morning. Wanting to get as much distance as we could away from Castelia City as possible. "We shouldn't draw ourselves much attention. Who knows if Purrloin has or hasn't sent out a few of her gang members to track us down by now."

"I hope not. I hope they have already given up on us and have returned back to the hideout. But we should look for a place to stay for the night immediately and quickly and out of sight." Aqua stared at map closely, and then turned the pages until she was at the first page; a map of the entire Unova region, pointing at first Castelia City, then trailed her paw to Nuvema Town. "It would've taken us two days to walk from the city to Nuvema Town." Then she pointed at Nimbasa city, and trailed her paw upwards to the next city, the next route, trailing her paw right passing a snow area, then at the corner of the page, and then down until she was pointing at Nuvema Town. "This will take a long time to get to from the city. If the maps direction is correct, it'll take a month for us to reach the town."

I sighed back, leaning against the large sack. "We're going to need some food and supplies to last the journey. Hey, it's a good thing you learnt something about berries in class."

Aqua shifted a little, chuckling nervously. "Uh… yeah, the thing about that is I only learned just the one kind of berry that'll be useful for treating status effects; a Persim Berry, it'll heal confusion. But is it filling you might ask? Hm, not really. Better to leave that for when you actually need it. Although it does last when picked a long time, so if you see it feel free to grab as much as you need." Aqua frowned as she turned her head away from me. "I would've liked to have learnt more."

"Hey, it'll be alright. We'll manage." I placed my arm around her shoulder to cheer her up. I also remembered seeing a library in Driftveil somewhere, so maybe we could go there and find a book about berries? "We have plenty of food to last us for two days, maybe more if we ration it out. There is a library in Driftveil City, so I'm sure there are tons of books about berries and healing items you can read. But we will be alright." Aqua smiled as she hugged me.

"Hey Zack, once we arrive in Nuvema Town, and if we meet your trainer, do you think they would let me stay with them?"

"Of course. I'm sure my trainer would be happy to welcome you in to the group if we have any." I smiled, happy that Aqua wanted to stay with me. I thought after the end of our journey once we reached Nuvema Town, I don't know; she would leave somewhere? But I was happy knowing she would be with me during the journey and after it.

"How do you know that? Your trainer might not be so welcoming."

"Well, I'll persuade them to change their minds." I smiled "I'm pretty sure after we somehow explain to them about we went through; how you and I have become friends they'll be accepting of you" I said, still saying that not yet fully realizing that I was speaking the human language at all times. I was surprised now not one Pokemon in the gang realized this.

Aqua smiled as she closed her eyes, ready to sleep. "I had another vision while I was sleeping. You want to hear it, or would you rather wait to be surprised?"She said, noticing that her cheeks were a little red.

"Oh? So what is it?" I asked, curious at what this surprise was. She snuggled closer and giggled.

"I had a vision we were in a city somewhere, dark but brightly lit with fireworks in the sky. You and I were dancing together while music was being played in the distance. But the future isn't set, it can be changed. So I'll leave it to you to decide if you want to or not. But you know it could very well be just only a dream that I saw instead of a true vision." She giggled before drifting off to sleep. "You should get some sleep Zack. You're going to need to regain your energy once we get to the city. Good night Zack."

"Goodnight Aqua." But I didn't sleep that night; not on the train I mean. I kept myself awake, not wanting to wake up long after we stopped at the station for someone to find us and take us away or something. I guess I was still worried about those soldiers back in Castelia City. If they were on the other train, maybe a few of them would be on this one but up ahead, waiting to get off once we reached Nimbasa City.

I sat there unsure what she meant to that. "Us dancing to some music in a city?" I thought as I watched her sleep beside me. I wasn't much a dancer back before I lost my memory. To be honest, I was a pretty lousy dancer, flailing my arms and legs around trying to look like I know what was going on. It always casted a few looks that made me feel very awkward and regretting ever walking onto the dance floor. I thought back to how she said that the future wasn't set and it could be changed, that it was my choice to do so. "Does she want me to dance with her? I have never danced after losing my memory. I don't know how or if I had any memory of ever doing so. 'Or it could very well be just only a dream that she saw instead of a vision.' I'm not sure what her visions are like, how they are shown to her, if they are played out to her like a dream." I didn't know how to dance, and I was self conscious about gaining that much attention out there. But then I remembered how she giggled like that, the blush. "Maybe if we do dance it'll be fun. I wonder if it was a vision. Maybe it'll be nice…" I didn't dance much way back then, didn't know how. But I was glad not to have a memory of me not liking it or doing it not so often. If this turned out to be a vision, then I would probably try and dance with her, give it all that I had. But if it had been only a dream, well I guess it was just a dream.

But it did give me a nice thought of us dancing together to some music. Back in the hideout, there wasn't anything like that, no activity involving dancing. So doing something like this I was having a small bit of hope build up that it was a vision, something to look forward to. If I did have my memory on me not dancing as much and finding myself being awkward at time while doing it, I might've refused to do so right then and there. Although, if I did dance if this thing Aqua said about us dancing was as a vision, maybe it would spark a memory about me dancing before?

We would be getting off in Nimbasa City soon; we would find a place for us to sleep and afterwards we would start our journey to reach Nuvema Town throughout the Unova region. Although I didn't know it at the time, but I would realize at some point that Aqua's visions would help me to remember about who I was before, and I also hoped that her visions would help protect us along the way back home.

To be continued...

Trivia:

This chapter was a part of chapter 15 and ends with Zack and Aqua sleeping together on the train.

AN: Yeah, that's all I got for this chapter or could think of. Next chapter will be a larger chapter as long as 5k words, wanting to avoid writing as little as 2k or less words as possible. Next chapter up soon, and as always, Thanks for reading and until next time.