A/N: This story is kinda reminding me of the book 'To Kill a Mockingbird'; the first half is made up entirely of a bunch of random stuff that has nothing to do with anything, and then when the actually interesting stuff comes, you're uninterested by all the boring bits. Still a good story though. Anyways, this chapter contains the interesting stuff! Stuff begins happening! And, yes, Danni has about five more emotional breakdowns.

Dedication: As part of a birthday prezzie for my great friend Gen/Geneevee/Eevie/whatever you feel like calling yourself Happy 16-ness!

Disclaimer: If Iowned Pokémon, I would also be at least partly responsible for the creation of Manene (that stupid pink Mr. Mime prevolution blob-cream-puff-thing) and would therefore be wasting too much time wondering what drugs I was under the influence of when I created him than to be writing fanficiton. Gah!

Sianne's Story
Chapter 11

By Dannichu

I finally left the Pokémon Center at about midday, after spending so much time either talking to my Pokémon or thinking to myself. We were all walking around Lilycove, trying to find the ferry port so we could get to Mossdeep, but the general atmosphere felt a little different to how it had been yesterday. Sarah was slightly more melancholy than normal, which was odd since she was normally so full of vigor and life. I suspected I was the same, subconsciously, of course, as every so often I caught Russell or Luke giving me an odd look. We were all chatting, as we always did, but my mind wasn't entirely on the conversation. It felt really odd, and I didn't like it. I knew I had the power to get rid of it, but that would be betraying Sianne, so I stuck it out.

After about twenty minutes of wandering, not to mention three sets of wrong directions (Russell, Souriee and even Luke were adamant about not asking for some reason), we found the Ferry Port. I made a quick silent 'thank you' prayer about the ferry being sponsored by the League, meaning that transport was free. Even though we'd missed the one I had intended to catch because of my talking with the Pokémon, one left every hour on the hour, so we just hung around for ten minutes, waiting for the next one to arrive.

I discovered, to my disappointment and anger, that Pokémon weren't allowed outside their balls in any public areas during the crossing. The only place that they were allowed was in the cabins, but they cost money, and I didn't have any to speak of. I therefore protested bitterly, but I was given a firm 'no' because apparently one ship had sunk a few months previously due to an electric Pokémon shorting out the electricity supply, causing all the lights and navigation systems to go out and the ship to run aground. It was, so they told me, a miracle that everyone had got to shore safely. In the end I gave up, I had no desire to be kicked off the ferry, and recalled all of my Pokémon into their balls.

The ferry was nothing special, I had traveled on far fancier ones (the S.S. Anne; now that was classy), but I could hardly complain about the price. I sat in a large uncomfortable chair with a table attached, put my head in my arms and tried to sleep. After a while I discovered that my mind was too restless to sleep or to even sit still for that matter. I stood up, slung my bag onto one shoulder, and went off to explore the ship.

It wasn't the biggest ship to ever sail the sea, but could carry many trainers, especially since their Pokémon weren't allowed out, and since it journeyed only a short distance it could make the trip many times in one day, reducing the number of people on it per crossing. I walked along past the cabins, wanting to peer into one, but it appeared that they were all occupied and the doors were closed. Then I saw one whose door was wide open. I peered inside and saw that it was equipped with a cabin bed and a table with two chairs. I looked up and down the walkway, checking to see if anyone was watching me. I saw nobody at all, nor any cameras, so I quickly slipped into the room and shut the door behind me.

I climbed up into the bed and lay down on it. It wasn't very comfy compared to the beds in the Pokémon Center, but heavenly in comparison to having a mere sleeping bag separating you from the hard, cold earth. I sat up and felt something in the pocket of my jeans. I took it out and discovered that it was the Thunderstone. I looked up, hoping too see a clock on the wall, and I saw there was. It read 13:26. After a few seconds of my mind working out that here wasn't a thirteen o clock, that it was therefore obviously in twenty-four hour time, that it must be nearly half-past one and that I was really slow today, I took a Safari Ball from my Pokébelt. I hopped down onto the floor and took the Thunderstone in one hand and the ball in the other.

I thought about Souriee making his decision over whether or not to evolve. He seemed like he wanted to, but was a little nervous about it. I figured he'd want to do it quickly, so he didn't panic or something. So I reckoned the best thing would be to evolve him without everyone else watching, since he wasn't too familiar with them and would get nervous in front of them; I knew that I sure would. So maybe he would be better off doing it immediately by himself before he could change his mind.

Figuring that would be the best, I opened the ball, quickly handed him the shiny yellow stone and gave him an encouraging smile. He looked down at the stone in his paws and realized what it was. He suddenly began glowing with a white light, as Pokémon did during evolution. I watched in awe as Souriee grew slowly larger, his tail gradually thinning out and growing so much longer, his ears changing shape completely. Then I saw his face. I expected him to look excited or a little nervous, but it showed an expression of absolute horror. I looked questioningly at him, trying to figure out what could have triggered this response, but I then noticed something that made my face turn into one even more horrified than Souriee's.

Or, should I say, Sianne's.

I had evolved Sianne by mistake. My heart was in my mouth; I just could not believe what I had done.

I suddenly remembered that evolution could be stopped, so I automatically clapped my hands in front of Sianne's horrified face, as I had done to Sarah so many times to prevent her from evolving into a Swampert. Sianne jumped, not expecting me to do this, but the evolution process did not stop. I panicked; suddenly remembering that Stone evolvers could not be stopped from evolving once the process had begun, due to the… what was it? Why had I not paid attention in class?

"Danni!" came a horrified cry from Sianne. She looked so helpless, standing there in terror, growing more orange, her hips and feet growing dramatically. Then I remembered; the energy fields! Once a compatible Pokémon had entered the field, the process of mutation, or evolution, could not be stopped by surprising the Pokémon evolving.

Then I was struck by a sudden idea. Surely the process would stop if the stone was taken away! I reached out and grabbed the stone out of my poor Pikachu-Raichu's hands as she was still surrounded in the intense white light. The light stopped abruptly. I looked at her intensely, hoping against hope that she would begin to change back. 'Oh please,' I thought, 'please don't let me cause any more pain to Sianne than what's already happened to her…'

But Sianne didn't change. I looked at her, my eyes brimming with tears. She showed no emotion. Suddenly, she dropped to the ground, unconscious. I wiped my eyes and did a few checks on her. She was still breathing all right but was fainted though exhaustion and emotion, and I had no revives. I recalled her into her Pokéball, tears streaming down my cheeks. I looked down at the yellow stone in my hand, the thing that had caused me to betray my Pokémon, my friend. It was its stupid fault that she would never be the same again, that I had let her down. I hurled the Thunderstone with all my strength at the wall opposite me, where it shattered into thousands of fragments.

I then buried my head in my hands and wept my heart out.

I must have fallen asleep somewhere along the line, as I was woken up by a loud horn sound, indicating the end of the journey. I suddenly remembered what happened during the crossing, and my heart migrated to somewhere around my ankles, while every bit of water in my body seemed to come to my eyes, as waterfalls of tears began streaming down my face. I attempted to pull myself together, wiping tears out of my eyes, but it didn't work, so I grabbed my bag, made sure all my Pokémon were attached to my belt and sneaked out of the cabin before exiting the ship, hoping to be an inconspicuous as possible, keeping my head low so as not to have concerned people ask me if I was all right.

I had never felt less 'all right' in my life.

I ran the mile-and-a-half to the Pokémon center, my tears never ceasing their stampede down my face, my mind focused only on Sianne's face as she evolved, that look of horror. I tripped over a rock in the middle of the dusty road and cut my hand, but I ignored it and carried on running. Once I got to the Pokémon Center, I wiped my eyes and tried to regain some shadow of composure and I booked a small room. I ran up to it, tried three times to insert the key while being unable to see anything through my bleary eyes before wiping them and unlocking the door as fast as I could. I shut the door behind me and flopped facedown onto the bed. And cried.

This time I don't remember being asleep; I just sobbed for hours on end, not even wanting to cease, not wanting to face up to reality. The reality that I had betrayed and hurt one of my friends. A friend that had placed her trust in me. And I had let her down so much. After I was sure that I had cried out the remnants of my heart, I took Sianne's Safari ball in my hands. I took it downstairs, leaving the others up in my locked room, and handed it over to the Nurse's assistant, a Chansey. The usual checks were taken; she was viewed from inside her ball, then replenished with a healer machine, which would have automatically brought her back to health due to its effects on a Pokémon cells. While they are normally given food and rest, healers have to be used after evolution as Pokémon are never released from their balls by the Center staff, as some Pokémon become violent after evolution, and it is the trainer's responsibility to care for the aftereffects of the change, not the nurse's. It would usually have fascinated me, trainers are not usually allowed to watch, but I had other things on my mind. After muttering a robotic 'thanks' to the nurse, I took Sianne back upstairs.