"Raining? How is it raining?"
Liam, Vasilio, and Jonah had somehow squeezed themselves into the tiny tent, but sleep had proved elusive. The first evening of fall camp had been good. They had sat around a real campfire—something Liam hadn't done in years—and listened as Taylor and Arthur led increasingly off-key songs on their guitars. As the fire slowly died, Liam wandered off from the group, taking advantage of the few moments he had alone to listen to the sound of the nearby stream and let his Murkrow fly laps around the camp. But soon enough, the teachers were coming around and sending them off to bed. Liam, Vasilio, and Jonah received an angry visit from Professor Rollon about the amount of noise they were making—in retrospect, Liam realized that blasting Sum 41 songs from Vasilio's portable speaker probably hadn't been the wisest idea. But they had been enjoying themselves, and even after being exiled to their tents, they had to express their giddiness somehow.
"Mori cursed us," said Vasilio, rubbing his eyes. "Ugh, at least the tent isn't leaking. What time is it?"
Jonah felt around for his phone as Liam turned on their flashlight.
"10:24," said Jonah. "Damn. I was just starting to get tired."
There was a sound of shouting and feet splashing through mud from outside. Clearly, they weren't the only ones awake.
"Is somebody running around in the rain?" wondered Liam.
Their tent suddenly shook, and they heard someone fumbling with the zipped-up flap.
"Dudes, let me in!"
It was Taylor's voice. Vasilio scrambled to unzip the door and let Taylor crawl into the cramped space. His long black hair was soaked-through, as were his clothes.
"What happened?"said Vasilio.
"Our tent collapsed," said Taylor. "August and the others are still out there, and our stuff is—."
Liam put his belt of Pokeballs back on and passed the flashlight to Taylor.
"Let's go get your stuff. You can sleep here."
Jonah groaned.
"Man, I don't think anybody's gonna sleep."
Taylor gave Liam an appreciative wink, and together they set out into the darkness and rain.
Either Mori had some kind of supernatural influence over weather in proportion to her pettiness, or Nanzo's weather was more volatile than Liam had realized, because it was pouring. Liam could barely see more than a few feet in front of him through the rain and wind, and his clothes were immediately soaked through. He and Taylor stumbled their way across the steep slope in the direction of Taylor's collapsed ten, where they found August digging through the wreckage.
"It's no good!" shouted Taylor over the roar of rain and wind. "I'm gonna stay with Liam. Do you have a tent?"
August nodded, and together they managed to dig out Taylor's sleeping bag and guitar case.
"Get those back to the tent," said Liam, trying hard to make himself heard. "I'm gonna make sure everybody found a place to sleep."
Taylor gave him a thumbs up. Liam didn't like to think about how little space would be left for him when he got back to the tent, but something in him wanted to be sure nobody was spending the night out in the cold and wet. He trudged from tent to tent, sheltering his eyes as he looked for homeless students. He couldn't see anyone. He was about to return to his own tent when he caught sight of something—a figure silhouetted against the stormy skies above, looking down at him from the crest of the slope. Liam's heart jumped, but as he peered at the figure, he quickly realized this was no ghost or phantom. It was a girl.
"Who are you?" called Liam as he rushed towards her.
She took a step back. Liam could see her eyes now—cold, blue eyes. Eyes he recognized.
"Claire!"
Liam was overcome with a sudden hatred. For now, it didn't matter to him that he was out in pouring rain, that sliding through the mud in soaked shoes, that his friends were probably wondering where he was. All he could think about was Claire. He was going to stop her. She wouldn't get away.
Claire's silhouette had disappeared from the ridge, but Liam was gaining on her. He pulled himself over the ridge, sprinting after her fleeing form. He sprang forward, catching her by the wrist, but she slashed at his face with her fingernails.
"Let go!" she screamed.
But Liam wouldn't let go. They were struggling with each other in the dark, grasping blindly at rain-soaking clothes and skin. Liam felt a sharp pain in his shin as Claire kicked him. He lost his balance and staggered, still holding Claire's wrist firmly in his hand. As he tried to find his footing, the ground seemed to give way, and Liam fell backwards, dragging Claire along with him. There was a flash, and with a shock Liam realized they had fallen into the stream that formed the eastern boundary of the campsite. Only that stream had become a river, and it was carrying Liam and Claire swiftly into the valley below. Liam felt Claire's fingernails digging into his flesh, but he didn't let go.
It took a sudden bump on the head to loosen his grip.
Liam jolted awake. It was still dark, and the rain was still falling hard. He was lying face-up on a riverbank, covered in mud and soaked from head-to-toe. He immediately felt for the Pokeballs on his belt. They were all still there, including Anastasia's. With a sigh of relief, Liam pulled himself painfully to his feet. He was in an unfamiliar place, far from the campsite. How far was impossible to tell—perhaps miles, perhaps just a few hundred meters—but Liam was sure he didn't recognize any familiar landmarks. He hoped it was just the rain and the dark.
He suddenly remembered how he had come there, and his eyes scanned the muddy riverbed for Claire. He saw her—face-down about ten meters away, her blonde hair filled with mud. Liam rushed over to lift her out of the water and onto the bank. She was still breathing, but unconscious. Liam wondered what he should do. He knew what Mori would've said—"Leave her. Let the bitch die."—but Liam couldn't bring himself to leave her. He looked for shelter, and spotted a nearby cave. Praying that it wouldn't turn out to be infested with Zubats or Ariados, Liam dragged Claire's limp body across the slippery ground and into the comparative safety of the cave. It was empty, and just large enough to give both of them shelter. Liam propped Claire against the wall of the cave and checked her for injuries. She had a dark bruise on her forehead, but otherwise she looked unharmed. Suddenly, Liam realized with a shock that Claire's Pokeballs were missing. He couldn't believe that she had come to Nanzo without them—she must have lost them in the river. Determined to at least try to find them, Liam pulled his jacket over his head and ventured back out into the storm.
After surveying the riverbed for a few moments, Liam's heart leapt. Claire's belt of Pokeballs had washed up on the far bank. The water was still moving fast, but Liam was determined. Finding the shallowest crossing he could, Liam waded to the far side of the river, collected the Pokeballs, and crossed back in safety.
It was only after he did this that he realized he could have sent his Murkrow to collect them without taking his chances in the river.
Liam returned to the cave to find Claire coughing and shivering. She jumped to her feet when she saw him, and her eyes darted to the belt of Pokeballs in his hand.
"Give those to me," she said threateningly. "They're mine!"
"I'll keep them for now," said Liam with a frown.
He sat down against the opposite cave wall, keeping his eyes on Claire's hands in case she snatched at the belt. Claire was glowering at him.
"Give me my Pokemon," she said through gritted teeth.
"You know, for someone who throws away their Pokemon, you're pretty possessive," said Liam. "I'll give them back to you if you help me get back to the camp. After the rain stops."
They both looked out at the downpour. It didn't look like stopping anytime soon.
"I'm guessing you're responsible for this," said Liam. "Somehow."
"Maybe I am," said Claire. "So what? Who are you, anyways?"
"I'm one of Mori's friends," said Liam. "We met last year. At the Track, at the school, and at the—."
"At the TV Tower," interrupted Claire. "Right. I thought you looked familiar. So you're one of the losers that hangs out with Grace Shaw? I guess she's already poisoned you against me, then."
"I didn't need Mori to tell me anything," said Liam. "But everything you did last year fit in nicely with what she said."
Claire scoffed. She climbed to her feet and started pacing the tiny gave in a vain attempt to keep warm. For a few minutes, they were both silent.
"Maybe you should listen to my side of the story," said Claire abruptly. "After all, you can't trust what Grace Shaw—."
"Your grunts killed a Pokemon last semester!" said Liam incredulously.
Claire's eyes flashed.
"I didn't order them to!" she shouted, "They… they did that on their own."
"I'm sure that will make everything okay for Chelsea," said Liam sarcastically, "But you don't even care enough to apologize, so that's not surprising."
Claire gaped at Liam. Then, to his astonishment, tears began to roll down her face.
"Chez," she sobbed, "Chez was my friend. I didn't mean to hurt her… I didn't want…"
Her legs gave way and she slid to the floor of the cave with her face in her hands. Her whole body was trembling, and her breathing came in choking sobs.
"Everyone hates me! I didn't want this… I didn't want Scraggy to die. It wasn't my fault..."
Suddenly, Claire's whole body seemed to go rigid. The tears were still coming, but they were tears of anger, not of grief.
"No!" she gasped, "No, no, no! I'm not weak! I'm… I'm strong. I'm stronger than this."
She pounded the dirt floor with her clenched fists and almost screamed in impotent fury.
"Did you really think when you joined Team Power that none of your friends were going to get hurt?" asked Liam, "That everyone would just let you walk all over them?"
"You don't understand," said Claire bitterly, avoiding Liam's eyes.
"I don't have to," said Liam, firmly, "Team Power thinks they have the right to crush anyone that's weak. That's all I need to know. And they'll crush you too, in the end."
"No!" shouted Claire, "No, they… they can't! I'm strong! I'm stronger than all of them!"
"No you're not," said Liam flatly. "You pretend to be strong, but you're a coward."
"Shut up!" spat Claire, "You're so mean!"
Liam laughed.
"I saw the things you left in Mori's locker two years ago," he said.
"You don't know what she was like two years ago," Claire retorted, "she needed someone to be hard on her."
"You're impossible," said Liam, rolling his eyes, "Everything you do has some stupid excuse that only makes sense to you."
"Don't call me that," said Claire, staring angrily at him.
"Call you what?"
"Don't call me stupid," she said, "I'm not stupid."
"Okay, fine," said Liam, "You're not stupid, you just do stupid things with stupid people for stupid reasons."
Claire stared at Liam in disbelief. Then, as if what he said had only just sunk in, she buried her face in her crossed arms and started to cry again.
"Go away," she sobbed, "Just go away."
"No," said Liam.
Claire tried to kick at him.
"Leave me alone!" she shrieked.
Liam crossed his arms.
"Are you done?" he asked testily. "Because I figured we're stuck in this cave until morning, and I don't want to spend that whole time listening to you wallowing in self-pity."
Claire chewed her tongue and glowered at Liam, but she seemed to get a hold of herself again.
"Let's start over," she said. "As long as we're stuck here, I want to tell you my side of the story. Can that hurt?"
Liam shrugged.
"Just be careful what you say about Mori," said Liam.
Claire gave an exasperated sigh.
"Grace Shaw never liked me," she began. "Not from my first day at Everspring. I don't know why. I never did anything to make her hate me. She just—."
"What about the notes?" said Liam coldly.
"They… that wasn't until later," Claire replied.
"What about that time you gave her a fake valentine just to humiliate her?"
Claire blinked.
"That's… not what happened," she said evasively.
"Don't try that," said Liam. "I heard about that from Vasilio, not from Mori. Is he a liar too?"
"No," said Claire. "No, he… It's… hard to explain."
"Let me guess," said Liam sarcastically. "I don't understand."
Claire turned her eyes angrily on Liam, but then they softened.
"I'll tell you what happened," said Claire seriously. "The true story. But you have to promise not to tell anyone. Ever. Do you promise?"
Liam thought for a moment.
"You know what? Sure. I don't have a lot of confidence that this story will be worth sharing anyways, but go ahead. I promise I won't tell."
Claire took a deep breath.
"Okay," she said. "This is the true story."