Yet another chaptery thing.

Long author notes this time. But a long chapter too, so I hope it evens out.

Two people were confused by the battle scene, so I'll explain my reasoning. People usually think of fire burning anything flammable, but it actually has a lot to do with temperature. Like alcohol, which burns at a very low temperature and doesn't produce enough heat to burn wood. And then there's the matter of different kinds of wood. Flames themselves tend not to be that hot, too, it's really the actual burning stuff that's hottest. We also know the flames get hotter as the pokemon gets stronger, so I figure that a weak pokemon like Howler using a weak attack over a wide range probably wouldn't manage to burn anything at all. And the same thing probably applies to all other types. A tackle from a high level evolved pokemon might shatter stone, and a tackle from a young rattata probably wouldn't even shake a tree. At least, that's my idea for why pokemon battles usually seem to do so little damage to their surroundings. I assume the boat is also probably varnished with something to protect it.

Hi Eatacheesemonkey! I'm afraid the psyduck subplot won't be ending any time soon. I've still got plenty more to explore! At least four more bits, one of which is in this chapter, and I'll probably think of even more as the story continues.

Elliot has only talked to his mother so far, so I don't know about his father. Hm…And Elliot and his mother don't talk much because Elliot is trying desperately to be independent. Even when he does get lonely, I doubt he realizes it, and when he's in towns, he usually gets distracted.

Hi, Nott! It's great to hear you like the story.

Koga's battle was suspicious, but it's confusing too. His ariados was strong enough to defeat Din in a few seconds, and without much effort. If Elliot's next pokemon had been about that strong or weaker, Koga should have won. So it's hard to tell what Koga was trying to do. Perhaps the battle this chapter will shed a bit more light on it.

I'm glad you like Prowler. She's a favored character of mine too (I'm trying to give the pokemon kind of equal exposure, but she's so much more versatile and interesting than the others that she gets way more time). But although she seems smart and sane to us, Caw is adamant that she's either lying or delusional, possibly both, and Caw seems to know what he's talking about. So who knows?

The Jennies were both different. The boy dies earlier, in some town between Cerulean and Saffron, and the girl is killed later, somewhere below Viridian. In fact, there's no way of knowing if there's any connection between the two.

And funny you should mention Team Rocket…

Like the vast blue sea, the world of pokemon spans depths beyond belief.

- Swimmer Kate

Chapter 15: Fear

-

Elliot stepped onto firm, dry land. He'd just gotten used to the movement of the boat, and promptly stumbled and nearly hit the dock face-first. Prowler, walking a bit shakily herself, caught the back of his shirt before he fell.

Safely off the boat, Elliot looked around him. There was a bewildering bustle of movement everywhere. Dozens of stalls filled the street, with every vender yelling out their wares and prices.

Prowler's ears slowly began to flatten. It was too noisy. Elliot noticed what Prowler was doing, although he interpreted it as a gesture of irritation instead of just an attempt to muffle the sound, and recalled her.

He started down the street and wandered around until, by luck, he managed to pick out a sign for the Pokemon Center amid the chaos. Following the arrow, he found a mammoth building, easily twice the size of the Viridian Pokecenter.

Entering, he found it filled with other trainers of various ages. He walked up to the front counter where a Nurse Joy stood serenely amid the pandemonium.

"Hi," he said. "Um, could you tell me where the Gym is?"

She smiled cheerily. "Just go down the street to the right and you'll see the sign. You can't miss it."

Elliot could. He walked along, all the way out of the stores and tourists. He kept going until he came to a dead end.

There was a building there, a charred, empty shell. An old chain-link fence surrounded it, torn open in places and collapsed in others.

Few places would have acted as a better magnet. Without another thought about the Gym, Elliot ducked through a gap, pushed open one blackened door, and headed in.

It was dim inside, light entering though dirty windows and gaps in the walls. The ceiling had collapsed in some areas, rendering it impassible. Elliot could hear the sounds of pokemon scurrying around out of sight.

He kept going, looking around. What was this place? he wondered. What caused the fire? Why hadn't it been torn down?

Elliot found a staircase. Although looking somewhat battered, all the steps were still in place. Without a thought for his safety, not considering much of the building had already collapsed and the rest was probably unstable, Elliot started to climb.

The second level was in better condition, although there were now open patches in the floor. Miscellaneous, unrecognizable objects littered the ground. Elliot picked one up, a mess of fused metal and plastic, and then discarded it again.

Elliot saw a large, sliding metal door, half-open, a small chunk of the collapsed ceiling jamming it. Above, Elliot could see the exposed metal beams of the ceiling's frame. He climbed over the rubble and into the next room.

Most of the third level had dropped through completely, making a wall, but the room didn't appear too badly burnt. Half of a desk was still visible, blackened but with two intact drawers. Elliot opened the top one, found it empty, and then tried the bottom one. A charred leather-bound book was inside. He picked it up.

The bottom of the book was ash, crumbling away under his touch. Gingerly, he opened it. The first few pages were blackened and illegible. He turned them carefully until he came to a page where the top was still white enough for him to make out writing.

July 5

It seems the r mors of a po mo in the uncharted so thern jungles were tr e. We have managed to c tch it, the l nd y called

What jungles? Elliot wondered. He remembered hearing something about a chain of islands existing below Cinnabar. Maybe it was talking about them. Were there really huge jungles on islands, though?

This place was old, so whatever pokemon they were talking about must have been discovered long ago. Elliot wondered if his pokedex would know which pokemon the journal talked about. He'd never wondered when or how pokemon were found before. It had always seemed like they just were. He decided to search his pokedex to see if it recorded where each pokemon was first discovered. He wanted to find out which pokemon the writer had found. Maybe the pokedex would even tell him who had found it, so he might be able to figure out who the writer was and what they were doing here.

Elliot put the book into his bag carefully. He looked around, suddenly aware of how empty everything was. And…if there were people here in the fire, then what if some of them had died? And what if they were still…in…

Elliot swallowed nervously. He tried not to spin around to look behind him. He felt jittery and strange, like he wanted to run and freeze at the same time. He'd felt the same once when he'd stumbled upon a mass of caterpie in the woods a year before, not wanting to move and run into the same thing, but suddenly panicked and scared of being alone.

He started to retrace his steps, walking in the too-fast gait of someone trying to fight the urge to run. He wasn't moving as carefully as before. As he started down the stairs, his foot came down with a hard thump on one step, and it cracked apart under him.

He screamed, losing his balance and falling painfully on his rear. He got back up and began to race down the stairs, making the damaged wood groan under the force, which only spurred him on. He had to go fast, what if the stairs broke while he was trying to go down and he was stuck up there? He didn't stop at the bottom, and kept running until he was out the door and through the fence.

Outside in daylight, his heartbeat slowed and he began to feel embarrassed about getting so scared. He took several deep breaths, trying to calm down, and started back the way he came. He found the returning noise and bustle reassuring now instead of an annoyance. The presence of so many people dispelled any lingering fear he had.

Left and right could get confused when retracing steps. Elliot turned in the wrong direction. There was so much going on that by the time he realized he hadn't gone that way, he was well away from the street he'd started on. Not worried enough to want to go to the nearest adult and ask for help, he tried taking a left at a street he thought he'd seen before…and then a right, and a left, until he was not only lost but hadn't a chance of retracing his steps and starting over.

Looking around for something he recognized as he wandered, he finally saw a sign for the Gym amid the neon storefronts and headed in the direction it indicated. He moved closer and closer to the center of the island until he came to a building pressed up against the side of a tall, narrow, barren mountain. The huge sign above announced it as the Gym.

He entered. It was sweltering inside. "Hello?" he called. It was empty, and seemed smaller than it had looked from the outside. It was much wider than it was long, as if it had been cut in half to accommodate the side of the mountain. In front of him, up against the too-near wall, was a flight of descending stairs. He started down them.

Elliot had to pause, his head feeling a bit light, before managing to continue. The heat was worse than in the upper building, as if it was wafting directly from the ground. He headed down the stairs. They looked as if they'd been cut directly into the stone. It only got hotter as he went down, and Elliot had the fleeting thought he was walking into Hell. At the bottom, he found himself staring at two huge, double doors. He grabbed them by the handles, the metal almost hot enough to burn, and quickly pushed them open and let go.

Standing on the far end of the chamber was an old man. The room was almost egg shaped, with the sides highest and the center lowest. Between them was a depression he couldn't see into because of the angle.

"Finally here?" the man said.

"Were – were you expecting me?" Elliot asked nervously, stepping into the room. There was a blast of heat as he entered. "You're Blaine, right?"

The man ignored his question. "A three on three battle. Agreed?"

"Yes, but how…"

The Gym Leader tossed a pokeball. A ninetales formed in the center area, just visible over the lip of the rocks. Elliot walked further into the sloped room. Once he was closer, he saw that that it wasn't just a lower area, but an actual hole, with an arena suspended over bubbling lava. Elliot's legs went weak as he stared over the edge. What if he fell in?

"Well?" asked the Gym Leader.

No, he was safe, although the knowledge could only banish a little of the fear. But the pokemon…they would be in real danger. What if they fell in?

This looked incredibly dangerous. The chains holding up the floor looked thin, even flimsy, like they might snap. And the rocks on the walls were rough and pitted. They didn't look too strong. What if the rock the chains were anchored on broke? Or what if a pokemon slipped?

"Well?" Blaine repeated, sounding even more annoyed.

But it was a gym battle, so it must have been like a roller coaster, he reasoned, something that looked like it could come apart at any time, but really it was made of super materials and was all scientifically engineered and very safe. Elliot reached down to pick a pokeball. He grabbed Caw's. Caw wouldn't need to worry about falling at all, because he could fly. Even if he was just being stupid the same way he felt scared just by looking over the edge, he'd still rather not worry.

"Go!" he yelled.

Caw formed, flapping above the ground. He barely glanced around.

The ninetales cocked his head. ((You again?)) he said, his voice making it more of a comment to himself than a question. Caw didn't bother answering, it was rhetorical anyway.

"Ninetales, fire blast!"

"Fly, Caw!"

Fire blast was a slow attack. The ninetales concentrated, then released it. By that point, Caw had moved.

"On down!" the man yelled. "Now, ember!"

On down? Elliot wondered what that meant for a few seconds before realizing Caw was dodging tiny flame balls and that he needed to give another order.

"Dive at it!"

Caw dived obediently. The ninetales hit him with a fire blast. He seemed ready for this, banking slightly to the side so that he didn't pass through the center and didn't take full damage, and flew into the ninetales before using his remaining momentum to reclaim the distance. He didn't fly up again, instead remaining at medium height, the same place he'd started at.

((Don't you get tired of that?)) the ninetales asked.

Caw still didn't answer. It was pointless and besides, pokemon weren't supposed to talk during battles. The ninetales had always been too cocky, too aloof, not taking battles seriously like the rest of them.

The murkrow's feathers were singed. Had he been Sono or another lighter-colored bird pokemon, his trainer would probably have recalled him. But his charcoal-black feathers hid the damage perfectly. He beat his wings harder, trying to stay mobile despite damage to several crucial feathers. The ninetales made no notice of this, not caring if he was slower and less able to dodge. And the ninetales' trainer wasn't close enough to tell himself.

"Try faint attack!" Elliot ordered. Caw vanished and reappeared, striking the fox pokemon hard in his side.

"Flamethrower!"

The ninetales opened his mouth and shot thick flames at Caw, who beat his wings rapidly and managed to avoid part of the attack. This time the feathers on his lower body were the worst burnt, and the damage was growing more noticeable. His tailfeathers were now half-missing. He tried to hover in place, badly unbalanced.

Elliot wasn't aware of the specific damage, but he had noticed that the ninetales had managed to counterattack each time he ordered Caw to use a move. He needed a better idea. What else could Caw use? He tried to remember what moves murkrow learned that they could use from a distance, but came up blank. Wing attack, quick attack, peck, drill peck…they were all moves where Caw had to be right next to the ninetales. What else…

Of course! "Caw, use whirlwind!" Elliot shouted. Caw was surprised, but quickly beat his wings, creating stronger and stronger gusts. The attack was weaker than usual because the gaps in his wings made it harder to push the air, but it worked. The ninetales hunched down and tried to hold on to the ground with his claws, but they couldn't dig into the hard platform. His nine tails made things worse, presenting a larger area for the air to hit. He slid back slowly.

Well before the fire type reached the edge, the Gym Leader withdrew him. Without a word, he threw another pokeball, releasing an arcanine. The pokemon was far larger and more compact, making the ninetales look almost dainty in comparison. Elliot didn't even consider trying whirlwind again.

Wing attack would probably slow Caw down. What would allow Caw to fly around the quickest? Peck. That would leave his wings free. "Caw! Peck at it!"

Caw flew at her, aiming mainly at her face and ears, weaving around. The ninetales would have swatted him out of the air immediately, but the slower arcanine's reactions were delayed by crucial seconds. She attacked where he had been. Her eyes were forced shut under Caw's barrage, further decreasing her accuracy and speed. Her paws managed to clip him a few times, knocking him off balance for an instant or so, but he always recovered.

Although Caw appeared to be easily outclassing his opponent to Elliot, in reality dodging took up energy. His muscles were strained, the situation made worse by the missing feathers that caused a lack of precision and efficiency. He had only the barest control over what direction he went in, and keeping up constant motion while his body strained to remain balanced was exhausting him.

Elliot, in keeping with what he had seen in tournaments and TV shows, was not content to continue with the same move, even if it was or appeared to be working. He was focused strongly on the battle, and couldn't sit back and relax slightly like an older trainer might have been able to do. He had to stay part of it, and just as using a move was a pokemon's contribution, ordering a move was the trainer's. "Drill peck!"

Peck was a move carried out in a single motion. Drill peck was a stronger attack, but also a longer one. Caw would have to hold still, and during that time the arcanine would get him.

Caw aimed the attack close to the arcanine's eyes, then began a rapid, repeated pecking moment that battered flesh by repetition. A moment later, the arcanine smacked him, knocking him down onto the platform so hard his body bounced.

"Return, Caw," Elliot said, withdrawing the crumpled pile of feathers. He picked up Sono's pokeball. As another flyer, she should be next. "Go!"

The arcanine watched this through puffy, bruised eyelids. Caw hadn't drawn blood, but he'd done significant damage, crushing internal blood vessels and breaking them. Left as she was, it was possible she could even go blind after several days. As a human-owned pokemon, there was no risk of that. She would be healed at a Center in only minutes and return in perfect condition.

Currently, though, she was in a great deal of pain. She shook her head, pawing at it. Her eyes were almost shut, the bloated tissue making it impossible to open them wider. She struggled to focus on her new opponent, who looked demoralizingly similar to her previous one.

"Flamethrower!" She tried, but the attack didn't hit. Her injury was severe, but it was bloodless. small and well concealed under her fur. She was also facing away from her trainer, who was closer and also more likely to notice. Neither trainer could see the extent of the damage. But both assumed that, for whatever reason, she was having aiming problems.

"Sono, use quick attack!"

Sono flew at her, using her short wings to turn out of the way whenever the arcanine attempted to line up an attack. Sono wasn't as fast or agile as Caw, nor as strong, but the arcanine was crippled. Finally, the arcanine wailed pitiably, cowering on the platform and trying to cover her face with her paws. Blaine recalled her.

Blaine was no Koga. Where Koga would be willing to take a risk, Blaine wasn't. He knew his opponent's pokemon were probably weak, with the murkrow being the strongest, but that didn't mean he should take a risk. He might have lost the first two fights to bad luck, but he wouldn't lose the third.

For his third pokemon, a weaker magmar. It'd be more than strong enough for anything a young trainer could have simply by its species. It was unlikely his opponent would even have something that could attack it.

At his command one rose out of the pit. Elliot watched in amazement as it climbed slowly up the rock of the side.

It could move fast as well, something Elliot discovered a moment too late when the magmar, upon reaching the platform, lunged for Sono, punching her with a burning fist. The spearow fainted without a sound, and Elliot recalled her.

Elliot couldn't use Discord. The jigglypuff was too light; he might get blown off into the lava. Prowler had told him not to use Din. Maybe Howler…but it wasn't really a good idea to use fire types against fire types, and besides, Howler had fought on the boat and Elliot had forgotten to heal him, so the growlithe would be weak. That left Prowler.

"Go, Prowler!" he yelled.

Prowler took a moment to examine her surroundings. It was hot, and there was a strange instability to the hard ground. There was a horrible, alien mixture of smells that made her gag for a second. The smells of sulfur and oxidation, things she'd never encountered before. She felt a momentary flash of panic as she felt like she would suffocate, but deliberately forced herself to breath normally. Although the smells were ones she associated with poison, they were weak.

She'd also never met anything like the thing before her either. It looked like…the only discernable feature she could pick out was the beak. The bizarre, confusing flame pattern over its body prevented her from properly making out its limbs, making it look like an oddly formed and strangely vertical pile of flaming red rock. It was also giving off heat, enough to make it noticeable despite the overall high temperature.

Prowler had never fought something like it, but she did know enough to ignore Elliot's orders of slash. She wasn't touching it until she had a better idea of what it was. And although she could tell it was hot, she couldn't make out if it was too hot to touch or bearable. She opened her mouth instead and spat out weak bubbles. She wasn't very good at the move, but knew it was disorienting even if it didn't do enough damage to finish off an opponent by itself. The exploding bubbles caused the magmar to flinch and pull back, ignoring Blaine's orders of fire punch.

Seeing it to be distracted, she crept closer, feeling the heat rise as it grew nearer. It was far too hot for her, but she could stand it for a while before she overheated. And she could probably swipe at the magmar without being burned as long as she didn't try to hold onto it. She paused her bubbles to scratch its side. She could just make out the smell of blood over the gases, the only way she knew it was there. Relying on vision alone, she was unable to make out the red in its matching hide even at such close range.

The magmar bellowed angrily and then tried to use the move it had been ordered earlier, punching at her with a heat-wrapped hand. She ducked it, sinking down closer to the platform, and began slicing him with her claws, raising larger and larger cuts until she could even make them out in the over-complex markings on its body. By keeping up the attack she forced it to try to defend rather than attack, flinching back under her assault. It managed to punch her when she paused, raising a scorch on her back, but it was only a light wound.

Her attacks caused only light wounds as well. The magmar showed no signs of being worn down. She couldn't tear at it, because of the heat, which prevented her from doing real damage.

"Push it to the edge, Prowler!" Elliot yelled. Pokemon that left the arena automatically forfeited the match. Prowler seemed to be doing a good job of driving the magmar around, but he could see she didn't seem able to knock it out.

Edge? Prowler wondered. She loped toward the sides of the platform. Once nearer she was able to see that she was not just in a raised area, as she had thought, but actually suspended over a pit. She hadn't realized that. Automatically, she looked for an escape route, finding none. And then the magmar tackled her, pushing her nearer to the brink.

She screamed in pain, clawing at it and trying to tear it off. She pulled away, her body throbbing from the heat, and spat out more bubbles while backing away, going even closer to the edge. The magmar, sensing an end to the fight, advanced despite her attack, and Prowler slid to the side. She didn't usually attack from head on.

Then she remembered what Elliot had said before she'd been distracted. Drive the pokemon to the edge. She roared and jumped.

The magmar stumbled back from the double intimidation of sound and motion, overbalanced, and fell off the platform. Prowler's leap brought her to the very edge, and she quickly scrambled backward.

Blaine was different from Koga in a second way. Koga's room was smaller, the poison-type Gym Leader closer to any opponent. Here the distance hid Blaine's expression. And that was lucky, because he was far worse at keeping a calm face than Koga.

From the other side, Blaine flicked a badge at Elliot, whose heart almost stopped as he saw the tiny, precious object seem to hover over the pit threateningly. But it completed its arc, landing almost perfectly as he caught it. Blaine had done this before.

Prowler's annoyed yowl reminded him of her existence. Her mouth was open and she was panting in a futile attempt to cool down. She did not want to remain in the stinking, burning room a moment longer. Elliot recalled her and left the Gym.

When he returned to the Center, a new problem presented itself.

"So do I have to wait until a ferry gets here to leave again?" Elliot asked, retrieving his healed pokemon.

The Nurse Joy was smiling cheerfully, projecting enough optimism that Elliot felt the last of his lingering doubts fade. "You could if you wanted to, but if you want to leave before then, all you have to do is surf on a pokemon. The northern route is a bit long, so you should probably take the eastern one to Fuchsia."

"But I don't have a pokemon that can do that."

"That isn't a problem," she said perkily. "Cinnabar offers rental pokemon that can be dropped off at another Center to be returned." She handed him a small, simplified map. "Just follow this route," she said, pointing to the red line snaking over the paper.

"Oh, okay," Elliot said. "Do a lot of people ask you this?"

"Yes."

"Then why do the ferries only cover one route?"

The Nurse Joy's sunny smile didn't falter. "I don't know. It's not really important."

"Yeah," Elliot agreed, still uncertain.

Elliot left, following the map until he came to a small building near the beach. The sand was covered with sunbathers.

Inside the building, he found it to be the same as other stores he'd entered, right down to the tiled floor. A man waited behind the counter.

"Um, hi," Elliot said. "I'd like to rent a pokemon."

The man picked a pokeball from behind the counter. "This is a blastoise. It's strong, dependable, and a fast swimmer." He handed it to Elliot. No money was exchanged. "But you'll need to leave a pokemon here. You can't carry seven pokemon."

"Okay," Elliot said, handing the man Discord's Safariball without misgivings. He couldn't let Discord out while he was at the ocean anyway, it was too windy.

"You can get it back when you go to the Center to return the blastoise," the man said.

Elliot walked back onto the beach, up to the water, and released the water type, prompting impressed cries from the children swimming. They clustered around it. Elliot climbed onto the huge shell and it began to swim, slicing through the water at a speed he wouldn't have thought such a large pokemon could achieve.

At first it was interesting just to watch the island recede and the water move, but Elliot grew bored. He took out his pokedex and began flipping through the pictures. He began to feel lonely. Although he was sitting atop a living pokemon, he wasn't interacting with it; it might as well have been a motorboat.

He started to reach for Caw's pokeball but then remembered how damp it was. Birds didn't like wet. Neither did Howler. He could let Din out but she might fall in the water. So it was Prowler who was out again.

She was getting more used to the scenery jumps. She stumbled slightly before she adjusted to the motion, then looked around. ((This is something new,)) she observed. ((What's happening?))

"We're riding a blastoise back to Fuchsia," Elliot said. "I think there's a series of island caves soon."

((Hm…)) Prowler said. She lay down, head peeking over the side of the blastoise's shell into the spray. For no reason, just having her out made Elliot feel better. He returned to his pokedex.

He looked at the entry for Din. Poochyena, it said, would chase and bite anything they encountered, but they'd usually run away if they were attacked. That didn't sound like Din at all. She'd stood up to much larger, stronger pokemon. That didn't make sense.

He asked Prowler what she thought. Sleepily, she said it was obvious and that whoever said that didn't know anything at all.

((Of course they run,)) she said. ((They're only children. If you were playing with a pokemon and it attacked you, wouldn't you run? They don't want a fight.))

Elliot remembered following pidgey around and trying to catch them for fun, and how he'd run away once the pokemon got annoyed with him and knocked him away with a gust. "That does make sense," he said. "But it doesn't sound like they were playing if they were biting. It sounds like they were really attacking."

((Din has thick fur,)) Prowler said.

"So?"

((So a bite that would hurt you would just be playing to her. Poochyena probably are just trying to play with other things like they play with their sisters. And then when the other thing tries to hurt them when they think they are being friendly, they are frightened and run. Wouldn't you?))

Elliot thought he would. They sat silently for several minutes, when the blastoise suddenly jerked and roared in pain.

Elliot yelled as well, grabbing onto the shell to avoid falling in the water. Prowler took the events better. She leaned further over as the pokemon thrashed, then quickly swiped at the water with her paw, pulling a soft, mushy, formless pokemon out onto the shell. She sniffed at it curiously.

The blastoise recovered and continued to swim.

((Do you know what this is?)) Prowler asked.

Elliot released his grip and looked. "That's just a tentacool. My mom's friend used to keep them in a big tank. They live in the ocean and they're really common. See, they can sting you with the tentacles, so you shouldn't touch that part. Well, really you shouldn't touch them at all but people don't usually listen."

Prowler bit at the top. Doing this to a rattata would have caused Elliot to yell and tell her to stop immediately, but tentacool looked so alien it was hard to think about them the same way. It tasted salty and had the consistency of rotten fat. She tossed it back into the water.

The ride continued uneventfully until they reached an island. The blastoise powered through the shallows to make it up to dry, burning sand, allowing its passengers to land without getting themselves wet. The two jumped off.

"This should be Seafoam," Elliot said, talking to himself.

((Seafoam?)) Prowler repeated.

"It's a volcanic island or something. And it's supposed to be faster to go through than around." Elliot recalled the blastoise. He turned to recall Prowler but she wasn't there. Looking around, he realized she was waiting by the edge of the cave mouth.

"You don't want to go back in your pokeball?" Elliot asked, trotting to catch up. "It's all wet in there."

((I can swim,)) she said, walking ahead of him into the cave.

"That's not what I meant," Elliot said.

The rocks inside were translucent, seemingly lit from the inside with a soft, bluish-white glow. The water seemed to glow slightly as well, or perhaps that was just light coming from the bottom.

Prowler sniffed the damp air. ((There's something strange here,)) she said.

"What?"

((I don't know,)) she said, walking over the smooth, glowing stones. They were oddly waterworn, as though the area had previously been underwater. But that didn't make sense. The rock was level. If water had slowly worn the ground down so that the water receded, it would be slanted.

Elliot began making his way through. The island was a bunch of honeycombed caves, with varying degrees of water levels. There was always a path through it, though, even if it was sometimes just a strip of rock with water at either side.

The water seemed to be moving from the slightly rippled surface. Elliot reached down to touch it and was surprised by the strength of the current.

Looking around, Elliot noticed how even and straight everything was. There were no sharp corners, but there weren't any meandering, curving lines either. It was laid out somewhat like someone's planned natural-style garden.

But that was ridiculous. It must have just been how the water cut. What did he know about it, really?

There was only one real path, despite how huge and mystifying the cave seemed. Elliot soon realized he must have been most of the way through.

A glint of yellow caught his eye, conspicuous against the milky rocks. He leaned over to pick it up.

Then slipped and fell into the water.

Elliot knew how to swim. But the abruptness of the event, the shock of the cold water, the splash spraying his eyes with burning salt and forcing them shut, the current pulling him under, all disoriented him. With his eyes closed he couldn't see, and with the force of the water he couldn't feel gravity. He didn't even know which way was up and air and which was water. He froze up, not moving, which, of his options, was probably the worst.

A moment later Prowler jumped in as well, biting the neck of his shirt and pulling him upright. She had swum in strong currents before, rivers, and she focused on just trying to float and not go under. Elliot was too big for her to pull ashore. She'd have trouble swimming against the current on her own. She waited, knowing that sooner or later they'd be pushed closer to ground and that she could try to get out then.

They weren't in the water long. The current whipped them along until they were knocked ashore on a small outcrop of rock that was above the water.

Elliot coughed, eyes still shut from the salt. He felt a blast of cold air, like opening a freezer door.

Cuno…

Elliot's eyes opened. There was a huge, glimmering white bird in front of them. It beat its wings once, the gust chilling Elliot's bones, and flew away.

The temperature returned to normal. Elliot stood and looked around. He could see the main path off in the distance and tossed the borrowed pokeball, releasing the blastoise. He realized he was still holding something, the rock he'd picked up earlier, and dropped it into his bag. He'd look at it later. He climbed atop the blastoise.

"Prowler," he said. The persian hadn't moved. She had a shocked expression. "Prowler! Come on."

She walked over, still looking dazed, and climbed on. The blastoise began to swim, much slower and more laboriously than it had earlier.

"Wasn't that amazing?" Elliot said. "I've never seen a pokemon like that before. It looked almost like Articuno. Do you think it could have been?"

((Articuno…)) Prowler said softly.

A group of psyduck were playing in the water, kept in a corner against the wall where the current wouldn't bother them. Several golduck kept watch.

"Weird," Elliot said, watching them. "They don't look anything like the ones I saw."

The psyduck were almost hyperactive. They jumped out of the water, dove back under, scrambled on and off land, all while making noise. They didn't appear to notice Elliot.

The golduck did. They watched him warily but didn't leave.

Prowler called to them. Elliot couldn't make out what she said. The golduck replied.

"What did you ask?" Elliot said.

((If they knew why the god was here.))

"So that really was…" Elliot was stunned.

((The god of ice, yes. They said only that this is where the god had been and this is where it returns.))

The golduck began yelling. Prowler snarled and they were quiet again.

"What happened?"

((They said I betrayed Articuno by telling you how to catch it. I told them you were not smart enough to catch Articuno and so it is fine.))

Elliot felt insulted. "I could too catch Articuno," he said.

((You cannot even swim,)) she told him.

Elliot decided not to argue. "Can you ask them about the psyduck? All the ones I've seen act different. Why are they so active?"

Prowler asked. The golduck looked at each other, shifting uneasily and watching Elliot. One replied.

((They say it is wrong to fight with psyduck,)) she reported. ((Perhaps that is why.))

-

-

Elliot made it to Fuchsia by the evening without anything else happening. He headed to the Pokecenter to sleep for the night and exchanged his pokemon, getting Discord back.

The next morning, he headed north, towards Celadon. He wanted to get there as soon as possible. Once he got his fourth badge, he'd be halfway to having all of them. For this reason, he didn't stop, but kept going even when it began to get dark.

"Hey, kid."

Two men stepped from the shadows of the path. Elliot stopped and then took a step back, seeing the red letter on both their shirts.

One glanced at the other. "This the one?"

"Looks it." The man looked at Elliot. "Hand over your pokemon without a fight if you don't want trouble."

It was much worse than it had ever seemed on television. There, the hero could laugh and beat them up, and they'd run away. But they were older than him and there were two and who knew how strong they were. Elliot tried not to be afraid, but he wanted to run away, wanted to wake up suddenly and not have to worry, wanted for someone else to come along to fight them, wanted to not be there, to never have been there.

"Well?" One stepped toward him.

But he couldn't let them take his pokemon. He tossed the first pokeball his hand touched. Howler appeared.

"So you want a fight, kid?"