FEARFUL OF THE NIGHT

By: Cy Mendoza

CHAPTER 13

WATER RESISTANCE

"Stay here with Hau, okay?" Chip said, patting Rotom's screen. "I'm just going to run inside the clothing shop and grab some swim trunks. I'll be back in a moment."

"Zzr… okay," Rotom said. As Chip dashed into the store, Rotom turned toward Hau and looked him over. Rotom liked Lillie a bit more, as she was more calm, but it was certain Hau would grow on it too. As long as that litten behaved itself, at least.

Hau plopped onto the bench outside the clothing store and stretched. "Man! My internal clock's all messed up now. I keep waking up in the afternoons and staying awake all through the night! Do you and Chip train at night too? I like it because it's so much cooler than the daytime. The daytime's kinda hot, don't you think? When it's that hot, I just want to sit in the malasada shop and eat until it cools down in the evening!"

Rotom's mouth was a little 'o' of surprise. It didn't feel like it could even get a word in edgewise when Hau was talking. The dark-haired boy seemed to jump from topic to topic before Rotom could even respond. "Zzz… Chip doesn't like the night much."

"Oh? Why's that? Does he wake up early? I guess if I were really tired at night, I wouldn't want to be training either." Hau ran his fingers through Litten's fur. The cat was laying on his lap, its legs curled under its body so that it looked like a small cat loaf. It purred, tail swishing back and forth from the affection. Hau moved his fingers under the cat's chin, and Litten leaned its head back in delight. "Hey, are you able to translate what my litten says?"

Once again, Rotom felt like it wasn't given a chance to respond. But now that it thought about it, Chip probably didn't want Rotom talking about his anxieties anyway. "I can, zzt."

"That's awesome! Man, Chip is so lucky to have you! When he gets more pokemon, if they need anything, they can just tell you and you could tell Chip. I'm so jealous! I wish I had a RotomDex." Hau leaned back a little bit, shifting, and Litten looked up with a grumble of annoyance. It stretched in his lap, then turned in a circle and lay down again.

Chip scuttled out of the shop with a new bag in hand. He dashed up to his waiting friends and smiled. "I'm ready! Are you?"

"Sure am!" Hau said, hopping up, much to Litten's disappointment. The cat jumped off his lap with an undignified meow. "Let's get going! Which beach do you want to go to? The one that's right here by the city? Or a different one, further south? Further north?"

"Umm, let's see." Chip knew that he wanted a beach that was close to the city, one that was well lit. He reached to pull Rotom out of the air, holding the ghost in his hands as he brought up the map. He dragged his finger up and down the screen, scrolling through the area around Hau'Oli City's shoreline. Rotom squirmed in his grip.

Hau laughed as he looked over Chip's shoulder. "Look at your RotomDex! It wiggles around when you touch it!"

Chip zoomed in on a beach at the intersection between two large streets. That looked like a good place—it was right next to the marina, where he was certain there would be even more lights. Chip hadn't expected hanging out with Hau would make him feel safe, but having another trainer with him did help. "Roro's ticklish."

"What? Really?" Hau asked. "Lemme see!"

Rotom eyed Hau cautiously. "I'm not—" But Chip had already handed the PokeDex over to Hau, an amused look on his face. Hau grinned as he held onto the ghost tightly and tickled the underside of its little feet. Rotom squeaked, kicking its feet frantically as it flailed its arms, almost hitting Hau in the face. "ZZZT! HAU!"

"Wow! You were right!" Hau laughed, letting go of Rotom. Rotom floated out of his grip, crossing its arms as it blushed. "I like your partner, Chip. It's funny. Hey, is Rotom going to go swimming too? Is it safe for it to swim?"

"I'm not swimming," Rotom said. "I'm not waterproof, zzzrr, the sea water would damage the data inside the PokeDex."

"You could try outside of the PokeDex," Chip said with a shrug. Rotom looked rather unconvinced by that. "But that's only if you feel like you could control your electricity enough. I don't want to get shocked when swimming with you."

"Oh, that's a good point, isn't it?" Hau said, scratching his head. "By the way, if you see any water pokemon, train your rotom with them! They're weak to electric pokemon. My pichu is gonna be swimming with me. Litten doesn't like water."

"I don't blame it, zzt," Rotom mumbled. "That'zzz about the only thing we agree on."

Litten's ears perked up, and it blew a smoke ring at Rotom. As Rotom coughed and waved the smoke away, the cat looked pleased with itself.

"This is the beach that I thought would be good to swim at," Chip said, pointing to the beach he'd found earlier on Rotom's map. Rotom kept a little distance from Hau, watching his hands warily. Chip chuckled a little. "What do you think?"

"Sounds great! Let's go!" Hau said, waving for Chip to follow as he dashed off.

The entire pathway to the beach was lit by streetlights, and even though Chip could see a black night sky above him, he still felt himself smiling. Maybe it was because he was with Hau, but having another pokemon trainer near him really did make him feel safer. He'd underestimated Hau—after all, Hau had three pokemon, so maybe he was used to battling with all of them. In any event, Chip hoped his anxiety would stay at bay. It was in his stomach like a stone, but not so distracting that he couldn't still smile.

When they reached the beach, Chip felt a swell of excitement. "I guess we gotta change first, huh?"

"I always wear my swim trunks under my shorts!" Hau said with a laugh as he pulled off his shirt. "But the bathroom's over there if you need to change. I'll stay here with the pokemon!"

Chip chuckled as he headed into the bathroom. He almost felt bad for leaving Rotom with Hau, but he figured Rotom could avoid him well enough if it wanted to; Rotom was notoriously fast, after all. It only took him a couple minutes to change, and he was surprised to find Rotom floating close to Hau as the dark-haired boy sat on the concrete bordering the beach, playing with his litten. Hau's swim trunks were gold, apparently.

Picnic tables littered the beach, some of them with umbrellas over them, some of them not. Since it was the evening, it didn't seem to matter, so Chip set his backpack down on the nearest picnic table, then kicked off his shoes and set them on the ground beside the table. The sand felt so warm and soft on his feet. He plopped down in it and ran his fingers through the grains, enjoying the warmth emanating from it. Hau tossed his PokeBalls out, releasing his pichu and pikipek.

"I've never been to a beach before either," Rotom said, digging one of its arms into the sand. "It'zzz so warm!"

"Come on!" Hau said, running toward the water. His pichu followed after with a delighted squeak. "Let's go swimming!"

The two boys splashed into the water with excited laughter. Rotom followed them, but hung back when it got close to the water. Pichu and Pikipek stayed in the shallows, running along the edge where the water met the sand as they played with each other. Chip scuttled out into water up to his neck, enjoying the warmth that surrounded him despite the sting of salt against his healing wounds. The waves were gentle here, stirring him up and down without the worry of pulling him under. He turned toward Hau, then yelped when the other boy splashed him. Chip laughed and splashed back. "Hey!"

Chip ducked underwater, then opened his eyes. The salt stung, but the water was beautiful, even at night. The street lights provided enough light that he could see Hau just a couple feet away from him, as well as the start of the coral reef maybe fifty feet out. Chip didn't want to get too far out to sea, as he wasn't a strong swimmer, but he was enjoying where he was well enough. Hau swum over to him, then gave him a light push. Chip laughed and pushed back, then swam back toward the shore. He plopped down on the shoreline, laying there as Rotom floated above him.

"Did you enjoy the water?" Rotom asked.

"Sure did," Chip said with a smile. He scooted back a little more then lay down again, looking up at the night sky. The anxiety in his stomach was melting away into contentment as he looked up at the stars. He could even see the constellation that looked like a bulbasaur, just like Lillie had said. He wished Lillie was here too, that the three of them could play on the beach like no dangers existed in the world. "It'd be wonderful..."

"Hm? What would?" Rotom asked, tilting slightly.

"I was just thinking about Lillie. How it'd be nice if she was here too."

Rotom blinked, then smiled. "Next time, we should invite her! Zzz-zzz!"

"We really should." Chip was about to head back into the water to chase Hau when something flopping on the shoreline caught his attention. It was a small blue and gray fish, tangled in a fishing line. Chip frowned a moment, then moved over there, crouching down beside the small creature.

"It'zzz a wishiwashi," Rotom said, floating beside his shoulder. "The small fry pokemon. Though it's weak individually, it has learned to team up with others of itzzz kind to become stronger. I wonder what that means? Zzzt?"

"I don't know," Chip said. He gently picked up the flailing fish. "Wishiwashi, calm down… I'll help you."

The fish squirmed in his grip, repeating its name frantically as it tried to free itself. Chip tried to hold it tightly enough that he could unwind the fishing line, but not so tightly to hurt it. When he glanced out at the water, he saw that a number of wishiwashi were at the surface, darting around and watching him. There were bright red lines on the fish's scales where the line had cut into it. Chip found himself wincing at how painful they looked. As he finished unwinding the line and tossed it further up on the beach, he brought the wishiwashi over to the water and gently set it down. "Don't swim off, okay? I'll get a potion so you can feel better. Just wait right there."

Chip wasn't sure whether the fish would listen to him or not, but he made the trek back to his backpack to get a potion anyway. When he returned, the fish pokemon was waiting for him, sticking its head out of the water. The others of its kind had clumped near it. Chip looked at them cautiously, then sat down about waist-deep in the water. The wishiwashi came over to him, and he gently lifted it up and started spraying it. The little fish squirmed, but the angry red lines disappeared from its body, and it flipped back into the water with a happy squeak.

"There," Chip said. "Don't you feel better now?"

"Wishi!" It nodded, then turned and disappeared back into the ocean, along with its school.

Out in the water, Hau waved at him. "Chip! Come out here, I found the edge of the coral reef! It has a bunch of luvdiscs and alomomola around it! You gotta see this!"

"You coming, Roro?" Chip asked, wading out into the water until he started to paddle out to where Hau was.

Rotom shook its head. "I don't want to damage the PokeDex, zzt."

"Suit yourself, buddy. At least you have Litten to talk to, huh?" Chip laughed as he swam out further than Rotom was willing to go.

The two boys floated out on the waves as Rotom watched from the shore. It badly wanted to go join Chip, but the water made it nervous. It honestly didn't know if its casing was waterproof or not, as no one had ever told it, but it was feeling lonely left out on the shore. Sure, Litten was there, but Rotom didn't really want to talk to Litten.

Finally, Rotom decided it would go join Chip. All it had to do was stay above the waves, and it wouldn't have to worry about whether it was waterproof or not. Rotom looked at the water under it as it floated out toward Chip. The water grew darker the further they went from the shoreline, and it hoped Chip wasn't having trouble with all the darkness. From what Rotom could see, though, Hau had lifted Chip's mood, and the blond was laughing and swimming after the other boy. Rotom felt a twinge of jealousy that someone else could make Chip smile.

"Wishiwashi! Wishiwashi!"

Rotom backed up as the school of wishiwashi jumped out of the water, then landed back with a splash. They darted one after another, sometimes schooling closer together, sometimes fanning out. Rotom felt its circuits tingling with the desire to scan the fish, but they had disappeared into the water already.

The ghost turned to follow Chip again when something enormous burst out of the water.

"SHARPEDO!" The massive shark leapt from the depths, slamming into Rotom. The ghost felt the sudden explosion of pain, almost knocking it out with the force of the impact, then felt its metal body hitting the water.

Rotom began to sink. Dazed, Rotom didn't react for a couple of seconds as it watched the light above disappear. It sunk further and further, until Rotom realized what was going on and tried to float up. But its floating ability didn't work in the water like it did in the air, its metal body was simply too heavy to move through that much resistance, and Rotom found itself silently sinking further and further into the darkness.

An uncomfortable sensation filled Rotom's body, a sensation of water leaking into the cracks in its shelling. Those cracks hadn't been there—it'd gotten them from the sharpedo slamming into it—and now it was taking on water fast. Its circuits started to misfire. The screen went blue, audio speakers making inaudible high pitched noises that were drowned out by the water. The malfunctioning machine was scrambling Rotom's concentration.

ERROR. It had to get out. ERROR. ERROR.

It had to get out—Rotom separated from the machine.

The area around it electrified. Wishiwashi darted away from the area in droves, and the rest of the sea life avoided the area where Rotom's electricity pulsed through the water as well. Rotom tried to fly forward, but it couldn't. Its flying abilities didn't work underwater; there was still too much resistance. Rotom flailed its electric arms in an attempt to swim, but the necklace attached to its PokeDex entangled around it, dragging it down with the metal casing. Rotom struggled to turn its body immaterial to get away from the necklace, but panic consumed every sense, panic screamed in its mind. Rotom continued to sink, bubbles streaming out of its mouth from its silenced cries for help, until the light above disappeared and everything shrouded it in darkness.