RACHEL IN THE DESERT

Her little Shadow Pokémon was a Treecko. Rachel had opened the other poké ball while her Sandshrew was burrowing for water again. Rachel was hoping that it'd find at least as much water as before, if not more, because her skin was getting dry, itchy and painful. The thought of some soothing water on it was comforting. She checked the Treecko-it was a female-and put it back in it's ball because she had to contain an urge to fight it while it was out. She damned the Shadow process in the depths of her mind.

Replacing the poké ball on her belt, she went over to see how the Sandshrew was getting on. It had struck plenty of water, she was glad to see, and she drank thirstily, and then started slathering the sandy water on her skin. It seemed to ease the itching and pain for a while, but it wasn't long before the itching returned, stronger than ever. Annoyed, she began scratching to relieve the itching, and was surprised to find her skin was peeling. Did sunburn happen this quickly? She thought the peeling occurred between a day and a week depending on the severity of the burn, except in very extreme cases, and her skin didn't even look red-though with the lilac colouration, she couldn't be sure.

She looked at the area where the skin had peeled. Was it her imagination, or was the skin beneath a paler shade of mauve? Then she shook her head. Did it really matter?

She sat down and gave her skin a good scratching, the Sandshrew tentatively helping give her legs a scratch, and she brushed away all the sloughed skin. Rubbing her eyes, she hoped that this abominable headache would go soon. This could not be due to dehydration, for she had drank her full at both water holes the Sandshrew had discovered, and it had made no difference.

All of a sudden, she felt a wave of dizziness pass over her, followed by a wave of nausea, followed by an irresistible sleepiness. She managed to call her Sandshrew back to its ball, and then drag herself into the shade of a nearby rock before she descended into another dream-infested sleep.