Chapter 14: Alone

It was dark, cold, and wet.

I thought I had gone blind until I realized that the world was enveloped in the cloak of the night.

Where….What happened?

I sat up with a shudder, drenched in the saltwater that lapped at my legs. My body burned with pain, like I had been thrown into a brick wall from miles away and had somehow survived. Moaning, I surveyed my surroundings, my eyes adjusting slowly to the pitch blackness. I appeared to be sitting on some kind of beach, with a forest towering behind me and casting long, intimidating shadows across the ground. The undulating expanse of a river stretched out endlessly before me, and the only lights to be seen were those from the stars in the sky and that of the sliver of the moon that was visible.

"Eevee!" I exclaimed, suddenly remembering the small Pokémon. I searched frantically through the darkness for any signs of Eevee, soon spotting a small, furry clump a few feet from where I sat. I scrambled over the best that I could, scrutinizing over Eevee's still form sprawled out on the sand.

"Eevee!" I called, stroking the top of his head. There was no response, not even a tradtional spark. Panic began to creep in, muddling my thoughts.

No, Swift, stay calm, I snapped. But it was hard to stay calm when I knew it would be my fault if anything happened to Eevee. It was almost pitch black, and I had no idea where I was or what to do.

I placed two shaky fingers under Eevee's chin, trying to feel for a pulse. But I was trembling so much it was hard to tell whether or not there was one.

Dang it! Eevee, you'd better not die on me!

My backpack was still hung loosely around my shoulders, but even with a first aid kit, I didn't know enough to treat the bloodied gash on the Normal type's side. Still, I knew I had to try.

The supplies in the first aid kit were a bit moist, but useable. I cleaned off Eevee's wound as much as I could, operating with limited visibility (my flashlight was conveniently broken), and dressed it as appropriately as I was able. By the time I was done, sweat was beginning to form on my skin, and I still couldn't tell if he had a pulse.

I need to get to a Pokémon Center, I thought. But how? The only way I could was by flying, and it was our only chance. We didn't have another choice.

"Blaze, Hisakugen!"

Hisa blended in well with the darkness as soon as he emerged, the flame on his tail was only feature that made him visible. Scooping Eevee up in one arm and slinging my pack over the other, I hopped onto the Flame Pokémon's back. Sensing our urgency, Hisa took off immediately, soaring into the night sky.

"Find us a Pokémon Center—hurry!"

Giving a salutary growl, Hisa accelerated to his max speed, making the world speed by in a shadowy blur. As we flew, I held Eevee gently but firmly in my arms, leaning forward on Hisa and holding on with the sheer power of my legs, sore as they were. The whole way, I simply prayed that we would make it in time.

The ride seemed to take hours, but with Hisa's speed it couldn't have taken more than thirty minutes. Once the lights of civilization came into view, I felt almost immediate relief, even though I knew that it didn't guarantee Eevee's safety. I jumped off Hisa's back almost even before he landed in front of the infamous red-roofed building, stumbling to the doors of the Pokémon Center. No one was inside even though the lights were on, but I pounded on the locked doors until Nurse Joy came in her nightgown and demanded what all the commotion was about. I explained our situation quickly, and after seeing Eevee's condition, Nurse Joy let us in. Summoning her assistant Chansey, she took Eevee from my arms and rushed him into the emergency room.

I remembered staring at the closed double doors, relieved that Eevee was finally in good hands. Whether or not I had done enough to save him would be determined in just a few hours.

Then all my previous fatigue suddenly rushed in like another tidal wave, similar in force to the one Eevee and I had been washed away in. I felt my knees buckle underneath me involuntarily, and everything went black.

I felt like I must've slept for ages. My body was stiff and my head throbbed as though there were an enraged Primeape imprisoned in my skull. Groaning, I opened my eyes, only to find Hisa looming over me with a vigilant gaze.

"Hisa…..? What happened?"

My Charizard let out a comforting whine, as if to suggest that everything was okay. Somewhat mollified, I sat up, ignoring the protests of my abused muscles as I stroked Hisa's rough snout. I had been moved onto a bench outside the emergency room, where I must've collapsed on the floor the night before. The clock on the wall had its hands pointed to one-thirty, presumably in the afternoon.

"Excuse me."

I looked up, only to see Nurse Joy approaching from the open end of the hallway. A few strands of her salmon-colored hair had escaped from their usual loops, and her green eyes were underlined by meager wrinkles of exhaustion. Following her was one of her Chansey, a pink and rather bulbous Pokémon with a small pouch carrying an abnormally large egg. Its ears were decorated with wispy, feather-like contraptions that curved out from its head.

"How's Eevee?" I asked, unable to restrain myself. The nurse gave me a small, tired smile.

"He'll be fine, but it was a close call. His skin looks like it was split under some sort of pressure, and the wound was irritated by a lot of sand and saltwater." Putting her hands on her hips and delivering a fierce glare, she added, "You need to take better care of your Pokémon young lady! Who knows what will happen next time if you don't?"

I managed to withhold a grimace at the words "young lady", feeling a bit guilty about Eevee's condtion.

"I know. But I wasn't expecting the ship to―" I stopped, suddenly realizing that I might've said too much. Nurse Joy examined me closely, as though she suspected me for committing some kind of crime. Even with her pale pink dress and white apron, her gaze and posture were still quite formidable.

"Oh you must've been a passenger on the S.S Anne II," she noted, her expression becoming more compassionate. "I heard that some Gyarados attacked it to defend their territory, and split the ship in half."

Gyarados? I didn't recall seeing any Gyarados, but I did remember that woman named Raine. Maybe she had somehow made it seem as though it was all just an accident. She sure seemed capable of doing so.

"I must've fallen through with Eevee," I concluded, more to myself than to Nurse Joy. "We washed up on shore last night, and when I realized Eevee was injured, we flew here as fast as we could."

"I see…" Reaching into her apron pocket, Nurse Joy retrieved a card key and held it out to me. "Why don't you go and clean yourself up? Eevee still needs to rest, and he probably won't be well enough for visitors until tomorrow." Her Chansey agreed with an enthusiastic "Chan!"

Suddenly realizing how grimy I was, I decided not to argue and retired to my assigned room. There, I stripped myself of my filthy clothes and washed off whatever saltwater there was left in my skin and hair. Refreshed, I pulled on a set of spare clothes consisting of a slate, hooded sweatshirt and jeans, throwing my soiled outfit in the miniature washing machine set up in the closet. Afterwards, I cleaned out my backpack of items that I could no longer use after my dip in the river, the majority of the garbage being food. Seeing as I was by myself, I'd have to go replenish my supplies on my own. It kind of made me realize how much I missed having Lance and Riley around.

Driven by my hunger, I found myself lunch in a decent restaurant–since the Pokémon Center I was staying at only served breakfast–and ate my fill before exploring the city. I soon learned that I was in Celadon, and that the "accident" of the S.S. Anne II had made quite the headline. Apparently, as Nurse Joy had demonstrated, everyone believed that the incident had been incited by some Gyarados, who had forced the ship to break in two. Police officers managed to use boats and a number of Water Pokémon to rescue the passengers on board and push the ruined vessel back to shore. To my relief, no one had been hurt.

Lacking a destination, I returned to my lodgings. It was awfully quiet without Lance and Riley around, but I had no idea where they were, where to start looking for them, or, more importantly, what had happened to them. I just hoped that they were okay; they would probably be able to take care of themselves for the time being.

As I plopped down on the mattress of a lower bunk, I found myself recounting the events that had occurred. The unreality of what I had seen tempted me into believing it was all just a dream, even though knew that it wasn't.

Is Raine a part of that Clan Seigen? I wondered. She hadn't been wearing any sort of uniform as far as I could tell. Why was she looking for Kai? That I couldn't answer any more than I could my first inquiry. What bugged me equally as much was how each of our Eevee had reacted to Raine's presence. Whatever mystery lay behind their strange powers must've been related to their recognition of Raine.

I groaned, closing my eyes. I was still dead tired, even after being conked out for a good several hours. Maybe things would be clearer after I woke up.

Before I slept, however, I felt compelled to take a look at the miniature sword hanging around my neck. The cold metal slid into my fingers as I reached into my shirt and drew the pendant from its covert. The straight, snow-white blade gleamed brilliantly in the little sunlight that streamed in through the single window of the room, rainbow-colored reflections dancing along its length. If it had been a full-length sword, it would've been a deadly, yet beautiful, sight.

Kai did say something about not knowing how to summon my weapon, I recalled. Would it help if I knew how? I tinkered with the object, trying to discern some sort of secret or hidden aspect about it. But the weapon showed no signs of response to my prodding.

"You sure are a lot of help," I muttered. I must've been crazy to talk to a sword, and a necklace at that. I sighed, tracing the small symbol engraved on the flat of the blade before closing my fist over the iridescent steel and pulling the bedcovers over my body. I had so many questions, and no one to answer them; so many mysteries, and no one to solve them, or even to share them with. I wouldn't admit it, even to myself, but I was beginning to feel, almost for the first time, that I was truly alone.

Author's Note: I never thought I'd have to rewrite a chapter five times before I had anything post-worthy down. Dx Again, I've been having plot issues, and even though school's out, I still have two summer assignments to attend to (one of which will be done shortly and the other of which I don't need to worry too much about). I've almost unraveled all my difficulties with this part of the story, so unless I run into any other complications, updating speed should (SHOULD) increase. Thank you for your patience. :)