He wanted to live.

Never had such a statement been as true for the human as it was then. In spite of every cynical thought, every second wasted, and every busy year that rolled by, there was nothing that he hated more than the water flushing down his throat. Trying to inhale brought a further entourage of liquid, widening the black borders of around his already darkened vision. His arms flailed.

His arms…

Even in panic, the human could immediately tell that something felt...off with them. They waved through the lightless water, pushing him upward a pitiful amount as if they had been chopped away, replaced with ones half their size. For this reason, accompanied by a life where learning to tread water lay on the back burner of priorities, he started to sink.

Bubbles shot out of his mouth. His feet doggy paddled to accompany his trashing. Again, grim curiosity cut through panic. How many toes did he have on each foot? Two? Something was weighing him down, some rock-like surface that covered the top portion of his vision and bridged over his back. Underwater screams fell on deaf ears.

Is that it? He thought, gazing through scarcely moonlit water at a speck of blue in the sky. Weren't content to kill be once, had to rub it in my face?

His answer came two-fold. Something edible shoved itself into his mouth, breaking through terrified shouts and thoughts alike. Of some outside force, he found his two oversized jaws closing. The edible squirmed its way against his tongue and down the throat, texture surprisingly soft. In tandem, an ethereal sensation wrapped itself around the human's body. It fit the warm water well, pushing against his skin with seemingly no mass of its own as he found himself rising to the surface.

Gurgled hacks and coughs sounded where his head broke through the waterline. Never before had the human been glad of something so quaint? His eyelids opened, intent on surveying what dark magic had taken away the water's chill and made every single fiber of his being feel indisputably wrong.

Except...he couldn't.

His eyelids were sealed shut. They refused his mind's commands, and with this resurfaced panic. His arms returned to flailing, top of his stony head nearly sinking back below the waterline until something was shoved into his hands.

When forced into a situation were life became a fickle thing, it took a couple seconds for him to realize that the gesture had an intention of preserving it. He wrapped his arms around the small blocks of wood sewed together with a canvas, just barely able to keep his body afloat despite the rock-like bone across his back weighing him down.

"I apologize for the shock, but for this whole endeavor to work, for me to ever get to see...her again, my identity must be kept a secret. I hope you understand."

The call was surprisingly close, cutting through the night with a tone synthetic and untraceable.

"W-What? Who are you? Why are you doing this?" he sputtered.

A slight pause. His arms reached out, barely able to hear the faint creaking of wood and oars dipping over waves in the direction of his unknown savior.

"We'll meet again. Show conviction in the path you follow. Don't hesitate, and don't compromise. Few get a chance like this in their lifetimes; I advise you not to waste it."

Two splashes spewed droplets against his body. Oars creaked through the water, getting ever farther as he grasped in its general direction.

"Wait! You can't just leave me here! I—"

The psychic sensation again enveloped his body. He clung to the vest for dear life, being given a solid push by the force he could only assume was directing him toward the shoreline. With any luck, it would be close at hand.

Battered and fatigued, the human panted in resignation.

He drifted on, blind as a zubat paddling at a snail's pace. No matter how much progress it seemed he had made, the waves increased in ferocity to match it. A dozen times he was sent hurtling back toward the direction he had come.

Maybe this is my own personal hell. All in all...could be worse. I mean, I'll be stuck here paddling with T-Rex arms for all eternity, but at least I won't have to see it.

Otherworldly as it may have been, his salvation was within reach. A coiled bundle of rope plopped against his forehead with a dull tink and landed in the water. He reached out, grabbing with one hand to be tugged against the ocean current.

"H-Hey! Are you alright? It's not safe to swim when the breakers come out."

The voice was surprisingly soft for what urgency it conveyed, said as if every word was laden with apology.

"Well," he sputtered, "as absolutely peachy as this may seem...no, not particularly!"

Somehow, the human's savior deciphered a cry for help in between the facetious nature. The rope breached him through the waves head first. His face was forced downward once feet met terra firma, coughing and hacking what was left of saltwater from the back of his throat.

Sand.

The human hadn't felt sand in ages. He raised an arm up to rub the water that had pierced through his eyelids, grunting with a stark reminder that they weren't actually long enough to do so. Skin was no less jarring. He rubbed his arms and chest, discovering that, while they maintained their flexible nature, the texture on both was entirely wrong. Both were covered with tiny plates, bringing a terrifying conclusion that perhaps his comment about a T-Rex was too accurate.

"Sir, are you ok? I-I don't mean to pry, but you seem...confused."

She didn't know the half of it.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he replied, "thanks to you. Whoever you are, you have my gratitude."

He turned to the voice, giving his best attempt at a grin. The human didn't even want to question the two large fangs on the side of his mouth that flashed in her direction. His smile wore thin as fast as it appeared, tone darkening.

"Now...maybe you can help me with something else. Do you mind if I ask you a question? And, please, be absolutely honest."

"S-Sure, shoot."

Three deep breaths from the human sounding against tranquil wind.

"What the hell happened to me?"

A slight pause. With any luck, his rescuer was preparing a three-page speech with the time she was taking to look him over. He heard a soft 'hmm' from the person, presumably accompanied by a hand raising to her chin.

"You look...fine to me. I-I mean, a little worse for wear, but nothing more. Do you have something in your eye?"

She was lying, she had to be. And yet...her tone sounded completely genuine. An attempt to open his eyes found them similarly unresponsive. With a deep sign, he held his hand out in offering.

"I'm sorry, where are my manners? Thanks again for saving me. Name's Dro—no...my name is Chimera, nice to meet you."

A couple of seconds too many passed as he waited for the handshake to be reciprocated. He pulled it back when silence turned to awkwardness, suddenly wary that it was a strange taboo in whatever environment he had woken up in.

"O-Of course. My name's Argon, nice to meet you too."

A little...weird, but who am I to judge?

Neither wanted to admit it, but the thought was mutual. The human clasped his hands together, stealthily giving a tiny pinch to both as a gasp escaped his mouth.

Not a dream...not a dream?! You're a long way from Kansas now, buddy. That leaves either hell, or…

"Alright," he said, turning away to hide the shaking that had overtaken his arms, "I suppose I should rephrase. Forgive me for being blunt, but what exactly do I look like?"

This was it. Theories began brewing in the back of the human's mind, but were quickly shoved away. If he had been abducted by aliens and given genetic mutations, if he had been injected with some horrific drug that altered his senses and sense of being, or if he had just plain lost his mind, he would know. All unlikely explanations, though only slightly more so than the dominant one that had gone unsaid.

"Well...you're almost my height. W-Weight, color, both seem pretty much normal. Oh, you're a Bagon, of course, that goes without saying."

No, it doesn't. What if this was just...No—

"Blue and yellow scales, big, sturdy forehead that could crush rock. I-I'm not missing anything, am I? I'm sorry, didn't mean to waste your time, I'm just stating the obvious at this point."

He knew. From memories long thought forgotten, he knew. The image popped into his head like a poker player dealt pocket aces after having their chips lost to time. He froze.

"That means I'm a—it can't be."

It was. From every terrified and euphoric thought that ran through his conscious he knew it was. Second by second, a smile lit up on his face were shock should have been. He turned to the voice, unable to see the perturbed expression donned on the Raichu.

"And you...you're the—"

"A-Are you sure you're alright? I mean, I don't want to assume, but almost drowning might make you a little delirious. Your eyes, can you open them?"

It seemed so inconsequential then. Some game to go back to when days were simple, when everything was hunky dory and he had all the time in the world for such endeavors. And yet, the sand under his foreign feet, the summer wind that brushed against his scales like krabby bubbles, it all seemed to bring a sense of purpose to the madness. Two beings, destined for greatness and united in uncompromising friendship. In all likelihood it couldn't be, but the Bagon's mind screamed that it was true. There was only one way to find out.

"Never better," he replied, "and may I ask, who do I—w-whoa!"

He smiled, expression barely dampening when he took his first steps on solid ground. Through combination of the sand and his two feet being significantly smaller than he was used to, the Bagon tripped. Hardened bone that lined his back implanted itself into the ground like a tent stake.

"I'm sorry, the waves must have gotten to my head. As I was saying, what species to I have to thank for my rescue?"

The Bagon held out his hand. As expected, his deception worked, and the voice's own arm reached out. What truly surprised him, however, was the texture of the appendage.

Fur.

Short fur, granted, but fur nonetheless. The paw that helped him to his feet only confirmed his hopeful suspicions.

"O-Of course, I'm a Raichu."

The final nail in the coffin. Chimera cackled to the sand, ecstatic that under them lay the last remnants of the human's past. His face shut after a moment of blissful silence revealed Argon's perturbed expression, but the damage had been done. The mysterious Bagon was safe, and isolation grew ever more appealing to the Raichu. For a brief moment, she turned, eager to walk back to her dwellings and tuck herself into bed with a decent book when realization hit.

She couldn't go back. At least, not for a while. The Bagon couldn't see, but she slapped herself on the forehead, chiding herself on not realizing the two-fold reasoning that she had to stay on the moonlit beach. Somewhere beneath its tropical waters was a silver badge, and after making such a scene, there was no doubt in her mind that returning so soon would make her the target of curious and incredulous glances from well-meaning coworkers. The attention would die down, and she would regain the security of simply being another face in the crowd, but putting a days worth of place between them and herself wouldn't hurt. She turned back to Chimera, intently analyzing the other reason she couldn't leave the Bagon to his own devices.

"I-If you don't mind me asking, are you able to see? I don't want to just leave you on this beach if you can't."

His smile broke in an instant. Whatever strange figure seemed to have been the source of his blindness, it couldn't have been permanent. Could it?

"Well, I could a couple minutes ago," he replied, hands beginning to quiver, "but I was in the water and my eyelids...just stopped working, I think I can see fine, but I couldn't open them even if I tried."

"W-Would you mind if I take a look?" Argon replied. "I think I might know why, but I need to see closer to be sure."

He nodded. The Raichu placed a paw to Chimera's side to steady him. It was a normal gesture, and as such he did his best to hide the gasp that escaped his mouth with harsh reminder that the creature looking at him wasn't human. On closer inspection, Argon knew the periodic jittering over Chimera's eyelids well. An obvious case of paralysis, and there was only one source she could recall that only affected the eyes.

"It's...a blinker seed," she stated, attempting to form a story that would fit the Bagon's description, to no avail, "I-I've seen one before. There not like most other seeds, need to go through special processes in some of the factories for them to actually be useful. A-And they're pretty rare...who could have been wealthy, or sneaky enough to get one?"

Factories? Either Chimera's memory was failing, or the canon that he had known as a child was breaking apart. It didn't matter, his largest priorities lay in the immediate.

"Alright, is there a way to fix it?" the Bagon stammered. "It'd be pretty nice not being blind for the foreseeable future. O-Oh, and thanks again for your help, I'll...find a way to pay you back when this is all over."

"That won't be necessary," she hastily replied, "but if you're going to get your vision back, a heal seed might do the trick? I-I don't have one on me right now, but we can probably get one at a shop in town."

The Raichu took his hand. Her gaze lead back toward a colossus of neat, red-tiled houses barely visible over treeline when she froze in her tracks. Chimera looked toward her like she had grown two tails, though her silence wasn't the reason. For having a time of acquaintance measurable in minutes, the thought occurred that the pokemon before him had been extremely helpful. After offering to provide a solution to his predicament mere moments after saving him from tumultuous waves, she had asked for nothing in return. Was such philanthropy really that common in a world he had yet to fully see? Only time would tell.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

"I-I just realized...pretty much all the shops in town are closed at this time of day."

A near silent sigh fell between both, though feigned smiles quickly returned.

"Well, you've already helped me a ton, I can probably deal with this on my own. Although...would you mind if I talk to you later about—"

"A-Actually," she interjected, "if you're alright with it, this might work out for both of us."

Her gaze drew to the floor, paw scratching the back of her neck. Her other paw raised, in a common gesture to shield herself from the perpetually piercing gaze of those she talked to. After a moment, however, it lowered, thought suddenly dawning that, with his blindness, such a stare didn't exist from the Bagon.

"L-Long story short, it's probably best that the pokemon in town don't see me for a day or so. It's not...serious or anything, but it'd probably be for the best. A-And I don't mean to insult, but it might be a little dangerous being completely alone and blind here for the whole night. Would—"

Dammit, why does this always happen?

Argon paused, words failing. She knew them, they were on the tip of her tongue, and yet her mind was uncooperative. After all, they were strangers, and it was a pretty weird thing to ask. Embarrassing, even, perhaps just as much as most of her daily interactions with others. She shook her head, somewhere finding the will to push through.

"Would you mind if I...kept you company here on this beach until daybreak? J-Just to be sure that nothing bad happens to you, of course. A little impromptu camping trip."

It wasn't her only motive. Deep down, Argon couldn't deny there was a unique sense of intrigue to the strange pokemon she had just met. She didn't know the specifics, but just from what the Bagon had said, it seemed he was a wishiwashi out of water. Maybe the storybooks were true? Maybe by some dumb luck in her miserable life she had stumbled upon the h—

No, don't start thinking like that. You've made your choice. After all, you know the real, pathetic reason that you're doing this.

That much was true. As appealing as it had been for Argon, lazing the day away in isolation after such a show of weakness, it had become bitter. She had everything she could ever need, and yet in her soul the Raichu knew that she lacked the most important. Perhaps this would be good for her?

"Oh...sure," Chimera replied, "yeah, that would be nice. Wouldn't want to go blindly stumbling into some trees, would I? Would be dangerous for the trees."

A hint of a smile appeared on the Raichu's face.

"Yeah, of course."

Full moon made its evening journey over a melancholy beach as hours passed. The sand grew cold alongside chilling wind increasing in ferocity. In an effort to counter this, Argon returned from the forest with a short stack of logs and kindling. Once the Raichu had formed a fire ring, she reached into the bag at her side, pulling out a tiny wad of steel wool kept for such on occasion. A few sparks from her cheeks into her paws caused it to glow, leaving only a minor burn as comforting warmth enveloped both.

Even as they sat in silence around the campfire, a part of Chimera's mind was expecting reality to set in. He would wake up in his bed to the ferocious beeps of a device in his non-existent pocket, grunting with recognizance that another day had dawned, and the stars were as concealed as they were now. However, that never happened. As Argon laid her tail to the side and her back to the sand, looking for that same blue dot that seemed to have disappeared from the night sky, he couldn't help but chuckle.

"W-What's so funny?" she asked.

The laughter stopped, replaced by silent contemplation. He was acting weird, and he knew it, but there was little that could wipe the smile of Chimera's face. It all seemed so petty now, so...meaningless, fretting over being denied his destiny only to have it handed to him on a silver platter, in the form of a certain element.

"Oh, it's not much, just...do you ever get those moments were you look back on yourself and think 'I was a damn fool, wasn't I?'"

Argon was silent. The question was vague and abrupt, and yet she couldn't deny its familiarity.

"I-I mean, I've had some regrets in the past, but nothing to that extreme. There's always the small things, the stupid things, but I...I like to think I'm happy where I am. Even if I could go back and change something about myself, I don't think I would. W-Why do you ask?"

Chimera rose from the sand, walking to the shoreline until he felt warm water tickle his feet. If he could see, he knew he'd be staring at his own reflection. For a brief second, the body and life the human had known flashed before him, before being whisked away. He turned back.

"Right before I met you, I was...nothing. I was in a dark place, and I let that take control, rob me of being the per-pokemon I knew I could be. That's how I ended up in the water. I was foolish, and there was just this feeling of hopelessness, that no matter what I did I'd always end up back where I started."

Argon's tone turned somber, she walked next to the Bagon, placing a paw on his ill-defined shoulders. For the first time, Chimera didn't jump from the sensation.

"But now," he continued, "I see that it's a waste, that moping over everything isn't going to get me anywhere. I feel...I feel like I'm in a new world, and you were the one who let me live it. I can't thank you enough for that."

Argon's eyes widened. They barely knew each other, and such sentimentality was unexpected. Still, a tinge of jealousy overtook her heart, based in the knowledge that the Bagon had done in one day what she couldn't achieve in a lifetime.

"I-I'm happy I could help. You're giving me too much credit, honestly. This is all just...happenstance, it would have been the same for any other pokemon. In any case, I'm glad."

Glad and terrified. Glad that she was able to give the Bagon another day, terrified what that day would bring for herself. Glad that a new world had opened up, terrified that the theory brewing in the back of her subconscious had a tinge of truth to it.

"W-Well, I guess we should get some sleep, don't want to be groggy for tomorrow."

He nodded. They walked back to where forest met sand, lying on their sides sheltered by palm trees breezing in the wind. The future would come, but both were content to sleep the day away until that happened.