Scatter
Misty ran to the gym, her beloved place of quiet and peace save for the times that her sisters held water shows there. Her Water Pokemon swam, floated, or splashed happily in the blue-tinted pool, set like a living aquamarine stone in the Pokemon gym's central battleground. Fleeing from her thoughts, Misty dove into the pool fully clothed, her hair floating around her face like so many orange-red tentacles. Startled but delighted, her Pokemon swam over to greet her. Misty broke the surface of the water with a Staryu under one arm and her Horsea under the other. As soon as she had gained more air, she dove down once more. She was, she thought wryly, literally drowning her sorrows.
Slowly, she let a bubble escape from her lips and watched it float, pulsing gently, to the light and warmth where it would scatter into nothingness. Misty felt herself relax into the rippling shadows of the water, and she dove deeper, her sure strokes carrying her swiftly to the other end of the pool. Water enveloped her in its cool, unchanging, ever-changing embrace. As always, Misty marveled at its perfection, the fluid, emotionless joy that could not be grasped, sustaining all life and yet deadly if inhaled. One breath and she could be free forever. She stopped in puzzlement, frowning a little. Free from what? Life?
Free from pain, she thought. Free from grief and sorrow, guilt and regret and hurt. How she longed for it. Misty reached out into the sapphire depths, feeling small currents of water swirl into the spaces left by her hands, as if caressing her. Calm descended on her being, more tangible than the fluid surrounding her. No. She could live with the pain. She wouldn't let anyone down. Her hand clenched into a fist, and she felt the momentary rush of water into its place. Then she struck for the surface.
Misty gasped for air, emerging from the pool dripping wet, hair and clothes plastered to her body in a tight-fitting mass. She walked to a smaller pool that held a cage hanging half-in and half-out of the water, its perimeter allowing several feet of space between it and the edge of the pool. A giant blue serpent, its jaw hanging wide, stirred in the cage. Light from the skylight made its blue scales flash, even as it made no sound.
"Hi, Gyarados." Misty sat on the edge of the pool, shivering a bit. The cold stone floor grew spots of water when she moved. "How're you today?"
Gyarados gave an answering growl, and the white ridges on its back bristled. Misty smiled.
"Yeah, same with me." Her eyes became moist for one second, but she wiped it away. Gyarados still watched with unblinking eyes. It was a while before Misty spoke again, bitterness in her voice.
"I wish he wouldn't go. I wish he didn't do this to me. Every time, every time he promises that he'll take me somewhere-- I believe him. It's not hard to believe him when he's smiling at you and holding you and-- and he gives you that look..." She trailed off, aware of the Gyarados' agitation. "You want out, don't you? Ever since I caught you... I wonder if you like me at all." She watched, still as a frozen lake, as the creature rammed against the metal bars of its cage. The surface of the bars was scratched from endless repetitions of Gyarados' attacks. From the edge of the pool, Misty could see the crippled tail and fins of the Pokemon. If she had a choice, she would have set the beast free, but as it was, Gyarados would be unable to survive in the wild. Some horrible incident had occurred, crippling it for life. It glared at her through the scarred bars, roaring its defiance.
"You want to be free. I know, I know!" Misty cried out, as another round of ramming began and the cage creaked and rattled threateningly. The Pokemon stopped to stare at the girl again, its giant jaws open and panting. "Sometimes I feel the same way," the girl continued. "I feel like he's caught me, and I can't break free. Like he's put me in a cage."
Still panting, the creature bashed itself on the wet bars. A worried look came over Misty. "Don't do that. You'll only hurt yourself." Gyarados gave no sign of having understood her, only staring and roaring, its hot breath pouring over her from just a few feet away. It wanted out. Furthermore, it wanted the girl to be hurt for what she had done to it, and it wanted to do the hurting. One more time, it slammed its scaly body against the cage.
"Stop it! Don't you know that I caught you to keep you alive? Don't you know that you would be dead if you tried to live one day in the wild? I don't want you to get hurt!"
"GROOAHR!" was the Gyarados' response. Now it was Misty who watched as it flailed madly one last time, sending up frothing waves that washed over Misty's legs. She scrambled to her feet, unable to look away, watching in horror as the thing rammed one last time and the cage collapsed. It screamed, broken cage crashing down on it, around it, screaming and thrashing free of the debris that sank into the roiling water. It rose, dripping and maddened with pain, and it struck out. Even when terrified, Misty pulled her senses together and backed to the wall, where the reach of the Gyarados' ten-foot tail did not extend. The next pool, however, was not as fortunate. Pokemon were flung out of the water onto the stone floor, where the finned ones wriggled or flopped helplessly. Psyducks, waddling and quacking pitifully, scurried in terror, shooting weak attacks everywhere. The cries of the Pokemon echoed relentlessly through the cavernous gym, burning into Misty's head. She knew that she needed help, but she couldn't look away, so her hand groped along the wall desperately, found the emergency lever and pulled it with every ounce of her strength. Immediately lights flashed and alarms blared, sending the Pokemon into worse panic. The ones that lay helpless on the floor tried to wriggle back into the water, and one of the Psyducks evolved in its terror. Before Misty's astonished eyes, the new Golduck screeched at Gyarados and sent a powerful Hydro Pump attack hurtling toward its adversary. The blast of water struck the mad beast directly, and it reeled back. Water, however, is not very effective against Water, and the Gyarados was much more experienced than the newly evolved Golduck. It sent back its tail, cruelly ridged, striking the blue-skinned Water Pokemon. Golduck was flung back to the wall, where it struggled to its feet, staggered forward, and gave Gyarados another Hydro Pump from its bill. Again it was knocked against the wall. Golduck quacked loudly in consternation and stood up again, swaying in its exhaustion. Its webbed limbs, unused to battle, threatened to give way beneath it. Misty could see that it would not survive another attack from Gyarados if it went on. Desperately, she flung herself on the Pokemon just as it released another attack, its body and eyes glowing red, Misty saw it was using Amnesia it stared at her the world spun and went dark
Sorry about the delay in uploading; my PDA was confiscated at school, and I didn't have a chance to sync it with the computer. I've finished all seven chapters and plan to let my two beta readers look over it for ways to make it flow better. I'm thinking about an epilogue, but I don't think I should...